


What Makes a Family?

by Krissy170



Category: GOT7, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Family, Fluff, Kid BamBam, Kid Choi Youngjae, Kid Jackson Wang, Kid Jeon Jungkook, Kid Jung Hoseok | J-Hope, Kid Kim Taehyung | V, Kid Kim Yugyeom, Kid Mark Tuan, Kid Min Yoongi | Suga, Kid Park Jimin (BTS), Parents Namjin, Past Relationships, jjparents, slight angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2020-07-20 07:34:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 50,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19988467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krissy170/pseuds/Krissy170
Summary: Namjoon and Seokjin meet again in a very unexpected way. It had been about 14 years since they had last seen each other and their lives had moved on in very different directions. However, fate (and their sons) bring them back together. Features a lot of GOT7 as well. (Basically a story about GOTFamily and BangtanFamily and their ups and downs and all the love they share)





	1. You Know Rap Monster?!

Chapter One

Hoseok followed nervously behind his new friend Yoongi. The two had met earlier that week at school—Hoseok beginning his 7th grade year, while Yoongi was in his 8th. Hoseok and Yoongi were both new to the school, Hoseok because it was the first year of middle school while Yoongi was new because he had just switched schools with his dad moving houses. Hoseok liked Yoongi. He was sarcastic, witty, and appreciated music in a way that Hoseok really admired. Hoseok himself appreciated music more from the dance perspective, but he loved to hear Yoongi’s thoughts on songwriting and production. It was really fascinating and inspired Hoseok to learn more himself. 

During their short week of friendship Hoseok felt that he got to know Yoongi well enough, but he couldn’t believe that he was following through with this stupid plan with his new friend. You see, Yoongi was dared by another one of their friends, Jackson, to sneak backstage at a concert and get someone’s autograph. Jackson was bragging and saying that he had done it many times, even showing them some of his autographs. Hoseok thought Jackson was full of shit, if he were going to be honest—but he liked the boy well enough. Hoseok wasn’t present when the dare actually went down, he only saw the nervous Yoongi as the aftermath. Hoseok didn’t even know whose concert they were sneaking into, he just knew that Yoongi looked super nervous but also super determined. That’s why Hoseok snuck out of the house while it was just himself, Jimin and the babysitter and decided to join Yoongi on his quest. The boy obviously needed moral support after all. 

“Are you sure this is a good idea, hyung?” Hoseok whispered to Yoongi for what felt like the millionth time. “If one of the security guards catches us and calls our parents I’m done for.”  
“We just won’t get caught then,” Yoongi replied as if it were the simplest thing in the world.  
“Why didn’t Jackson come with us backstage?” Hoseok asked, noticing that the other boy had stayed outside. “He is the one who said that even if he got caught he wouldn’t get in trouble because his parents are so cool.”  
“You know he is just trying to make himself look cooler. There is no way his parents don’t care. But also, he’s our lookout,” Yoongi replied. “He had to stay by the door to make sure that no one was coming our way.” 

Hoseok nodded, even though Yoongi couldn’t see it since he was in front of him. He supposed that plan made sense. 

“By the way, whose show even is this?” Hoseok decided to ask, having mostly forgotten that part of the equation until now.  
“Only one of my favorite rappers of all time,” Yoongi replied, excitement very clear in his voice despite the fact that he tried to keep his voice at a whisper. “He is a rap icon and one of my top idols—Rap Monster.” 

Hoseok stopped dead in his tracks. This couldn’t be happening. 

It took a moment for Yoongi to realize that Hoseok was no longer right behind him, and he stopped and turned around to look at the boy who now had his mouth agape. 

“What—“ Yoongi began to ask but got cut off by someone clearing their throat behind him.  
“D—dad,” Hoseok stuttered out, looking past Yoongi.

Yoongi quickly whipped his head around, only to see the man, the myth, the legend—Rap Monster himself standing there. His jaw dropped open and his heart began to race in his chest. This was unbelievable. 

It took a moment for Hoseok’s words to catch up in Yoongi’s brain. Wait—did Hoseok just call him…dad? 

“What are you doing here Hoseok?” Namjoon asked, crossing his arms over his chest.  
“Rap Monster is your father?” Yoongi squeaked out, looking back and forth between the two now in confusion. 

Hoseok looked down at his feet, too afraid to make eye contact with his father. He nodded at Yoongi’s question. 

“Hoseok-ah, I asked you a question,” Namjoon said, his patience clearly wearing thin.  
“It was a dumb dare,” Hoseok admitted, shifting awkwardly in his position. “Yoongi hyung was dared to sneak in and get your autograph—er, well I didn’t realize it was YOUR autograph.”  
“Is everything okay out here?” A tall man with dark messy hair and sharp-looking eyes asked, stepping out of the open door behind Namjoon—Hoseok figured it must have been a dressing room. 

Before any more words could be exchanged, they heard struggling coming from behind them. Hoseok and Yoongi turned around to see Jackson being lead over to them by a man about twice his size and extremely muscular. 

“Is this one of yours?” The man asked, dragging Jackson front and center.  
“No—“ Namjoon began to say, but the man next to him spoke up as well.  
“Jackson Wang what in the hell are you doing here?” The man said, walking angrily up to the boy and pulling him away from the security guard by his grip on Jackson’s ear.  
“Ow ow ow, dad, please!” Jackson whined. 

Yoongi and Hoseok couldn’t help but exchange a quick glance with each other—so Jackson had lied about his parents letting him get away with anything.

“I will leave you guys to it,” the guard said.  
“Wait, before you go. Yoongi, I would like you to give this man here one of your parent’s phone numbers. They need to be informed as to what is going on,” Namjoon said sternly. 

Yoongi gulped, but nodded and told the guard his dad’s phone number. Namjoon heaved a heavy sigh and turned to face everyone assembled. 

“Why don’t we take this into my dressing room for some more privacy,” Namjoon suggested, gesturing for them to all file into the dressing room. 

That was the last thing in the world that Hoseok wanted, but he knew that he wasn’t really going to be given a say in the matter. He quickly filed into the dressing room with Yoongi trailing behind him. Namjoon then followed in after, trailed by Jaebum and his son Jackson. 

Namjoon and Jaebum took a seat on the couch and gestured for all three boys to stand in a line in front of them. 

“So who wants to tell me what exactly went down tonight?” Namjoon asked, looking at the three boys in front of him expectantly—gathering that one of the boys he didn’t know was his friend Jaebum’s son, but he still didn’t know who the third was other than a name—Yoongi.  
“Rap Monster sir, er—it’s my fault. I took a dare from Jackson here,” Yoongi admitted, still in shock that he was in front of his rap idol, but feeling bad that he clearly had just gotten his new friend in massive trouble with his father.  
“And what exactly was this dare?” Namjoon asked.  
“Well Jackson here dared me to sneak backstage at a concert and get one of the artist’s autographs. He said he does it all the time and has shown us some of the autographs that he got,” Yoongi explained, a second too late realizing that he was basically throwing Jackson under the bus.  
“Is that what you are telling people?” Jaebum spoke up, anger very evident in his tone. 

Jackson shifted awkwardly, but made no response. 

“Jackson!” Jaebum yelled out, clearly not accepting his son’s lack of response.  
“Yes sir,” Jackson replied, staring down at his feet. “I wanted my friends to think that I was cool.” 

Jaebum sighed, shaking his head in frustration. 

“I can assure you boys that the only reason that Jackson has those autographs is because I get them at work. Artists send me their albums signed because they are the ones that I’ve helped work on. I’m a producer and a songwriter. That is actually how I first met Namjoon here about a month ago,” Jaebum explained. 

Jackson wanted the floor to open up to allow him to disappear through it. He should have known that his little white lies to his new friends would come to bite him in the rear. 

“Does your brother know anything about these lies?” Jaebum asked, and then quickly added. “He isn’t here…is he?”  
“No sir, Mark isn’t here and he doesn’t know anything about the lies,” Jackson replied. “He already has his established friend group and doesn’t want me anywhere near him at school.” 

Hoseok and Yoongi looked over at Jackson in confusion—they didn’t even know that the boy had a brother.

“And you left Youngjae, Bambam and Yugyeom out of this as well?” Jaebum asked. 

Jackson nodded. 

“You have FOUR brothers?” Yoongi couldn’t help but asked. 

Jackson shifted awkwardly on the spot and nodded.

“We are going to have a long conversation about your lying habit, even if it is just to impress your friends,” Jaebum added, causing Jackson to gulp but ultimately nod his head. 

“I should ask as well, you didn’t drag Jimin into this did you?” Namjoon asked, turning to face his oldest son.  
“No, dad. Jimin was sound asleep when I—” Hoseok began to say but then got cut off by the door to the backstage area opening.

It was the guard once more, but this time with another child with him. 

“Jiminie, what are you doing here?” Hoseok asked in shock. “You were sound asleep when I snuck out.”  
“No, I wasn’t,” Jimin admitted. “I was just pretending and then I followed you out and onto the subway.” 

Jimin liked to try to do everything that his older brother Hoseok would do. Jimin was in his final year of elementary school and wanted to be just like his Hobi hyung.

Jimin seemed to realize who else was in the room though, when Namjoon stood up from the couch and crossed his arms over his chest. 

“D—dad,” Jimin stuttered out.  
“Jimin-ah,” Namjoon said, shaking his head in disappointment. He couldn’t believe both of his sons had snuck out of the house that evening—he was really going to have to get a different babysitter. 

There was then a knock on the door. Namjoon looked up, half expecting another kid to be dragged into the room but instead got the biggest shock of his life. 

He hadn’t seen this face in about 14 years, yet it was still as handsome as ever. The man seriously didn’t seem as if he ever aged, just as youthful and beautiful as ever. 

“Hello, I was told to come pick up my—Namjoon?” Seokjin changed his train of thought mid-sentence when he saw who was standing in the room.  
“You know Rap Monster too?” Yoongi couldn’t help but ask—seriously, this night was getting weirder and weirder.  
“You could say that…yeah,” Seokjin replied, hardly comprehending what words were coming out of his mouth—seriously, what was Namjoon doing standing in front of him.  
“Well they obviously slept together,” Jackson mumbled, but not softly enough because everyone in the room heard him, including his father.  
“JACKSON!” Jaebum cried out, standing up and pointing to a corner across the room. “I want your nose in that corner now!”  
“Dad! NO!” Jackson cried out. “That’s so embarrassing!”  
“No, that might actually be a good idea while the adults talk,” Namjoon added on, staring at Seokjin in as much of shock as Seokjin was staring at him. “Four corners, four naughty children in those corners.” 

The four kids gaped at their fathers in disbelief…seriously, they weren’t 5. 

“NOW!” Seokjin yelled out, causing all four boys to immediately stir into action.  
“Hey Hank!” Hoseok heard his father call out for his manager. “I know this is an odd question, but can you stay here and watch the boys for a little bit. You just need to make sure they don’t let their noses out of these corners.” “No problem, remember you are on in 45 minutes though, Namjoon,” Hank reminded.  
“We won’t be but ten minutes, the three of us just have things to discuss,” Namjoon assured, and then lead Jaebum and Seokjin into another room so they could talk without any little ears listening. 

This was going to be a long night…


	2. Avoiding Questions

Chapter Two

Namjoon stared at the man sitting across from him at the table in shock. It had been three minutes since Seokjin had arrived, but Namjoon still felt flabbergasted. Sitting across from him was the love of his life, his greatest love, and also his greatest loss. 

“Earth to Kim Namjoon!” Jaebum cried out, pulling Namjoon from his thoughts. “As much as I would love to sit here for hours with you staring at Seokjin-ssi, we really do have to address this matter quickly. You need to be on stage tonight.” 

Namjoon shook his head out, hoping his errant thoughts would go away and he could focus. 

“Right—our wayward sons,” Namjoon said with a sigh.   
“What exactly happened?” Seokjin asked, since he had missed the boys full explanation. 

Jaebum quickly introduced himself and then got Seokjin up to speed since he could tell Namjoon was in no mental space to do it. Seokjin sighed upon hearing the whole explanation. He couldn’t believe Yoongi would sneak out of the house like that with some dumb scheme to get his idol’s autograph—his idol who happened to be Kim Namjoon, and oh yes, Seokjin was very much aware that this was the same Kim Namjoon that he once knew quite well, and yes, had slept with. 

“What an odd twist of fate that all three of our sons became friends,” Seokjin couldn’t help but add once he heard the story from Jaebum.   
“Yeah…fate,” Namjoon said almost dreamily, nodding his head at Seokjin.   
“Okay, I know I’m still very much attractive, Namjoon. But right now our past isn’t the topic of conversation,” Seokjin reminded, snapping Namjoon out of his thoughts once more. “How are we going to address the situation?”   
“Well this sounds like it was an awful lot of my son’s doing,” Jaebum said with a sigh. “Not to excuse what he has done, but he is in a very weird stage right now. He idolizes his older brother Mark, but Mark is at the age where he doesn’t want to have anything to do with his younger brother. He thinks that he is much cooler without his little brother tagging along. I assume that’s why Jackson decided to make up some bull story about sneaking in to get autographs. Jackson wants to prove that he can be cool too and make his own friends.”   
“I fully understand, Jimin is going through that idolization phase with Hoseok right now,” Namjoon sympathized.   
“I have that too with Taehyung and Jungkook idolizing Yoongi,” Seokjin added. “We all understand the situation, but we definitely have to impress upon them that this behavior is unacceptable.”   
“Oh trust me, Jackson is about to get very well acquainted with the definition of being grounded,” Jaebum practically growled out, his frustration with his second oldest son very much evident. “His father is going to be furious.” 

Seokjin and Namjoon looked at him in confusion, wondering for a second if Jaebum was speaking about himself in the third person. 

“My husband, Jinyoung,” Jaebum added when he saw their looks of confusion. “We adopted all of our children together, hence why almost all of them have foreign names. Mark we adopted from the US, Jackson from Hong Kong, Bambam from Thailand and Yugyeom and Youngjae from Korea.” 

Seokjin and Namjoon nodded their heads in understanding. Jaebum took another moment to collect his thoughts, before adding: 

“I would understand if you want to keep your boys away from my son,” Jaebum said softly. “I didn’t raise him to be a liar, and trust me it will be addressed, but I can understand if you think he is a bad influence.”   
“I’m sure he is a great kid, Jaebum,” Seokjin added in. “I think he is just going through a rough time. Besides, it’s not like either of our children are innocent in this either. They very much could have said no.”   
“I don’t think keeping them apart is necessary either,” Namjoon added in. “I just say we ground all three of them and move forward. In fact, why don’t we have a get together after all three of them are finished with their groundings. They seem like they will be very good friends so we will all be seeing a lot of each other anyways.” “That is a great idea!” Seokjin added in.   
“I’m planning on grounding Jackson for two weeks, one week for the sneaking out and one week for the lying, so we could do in two Sundays if that works for you two,” Jaebum added in. 

Seokjin and Namjoon nodded their agreement. 

“Well I guess I better get my kid home,” Seokjin said with a sigh, standing up from the table and pushing his chair in.   
“Why don’t you stay for the show?” Namjoon asked, quickly standing up and almost knocking his chair out from under him. “You both are here already and I go on soon. It will be one last treat before the boys are bored out of their minds.” 

Seokjin looked like he was going to protest for a moment, but then one look at Namjoon’s face had him caving. 

“Okay…” Seokjin said softly, with a small nod of his head.  
“And you, Jaebum?” Namjoon asked, turning to look at his new friend.   
“Yeah, might as well stay,” Jaebum said with a shrug.   
“Awesome! I will tell the manager to let you guys stand in the wings of the stage,” Namjoon replied, joy evident in his body language which seemed much lighter than it had two minutes before.   
“Should we go let our sons out of their corners?” Seokjin asked with a sigh.   
“We can head back in, but I think they can stay there a little bit longer and think about what they’ve done,” Namjoon replied, really not looking forward to the conversation he would have to have later with BOTH of his sons. 

The three men walked back into the other dressing room to see Namjoon’s manager Hank sitting on the couch reading a magazine. They quickly relieved him of his duty and all three replaced him on the couch. 

“Dad,” Hoseok whined. “Can we please come out now?”   
“Not yet, Hoseok,” Namjoon replied.   
“But the corner is so boring,” Jimin added in his own whine.   
“That’s kind of the point kid,” Namjoon answered. “You are supposed to be thinking about what you did that landed you there.”   
“But all I can think about is how you know my dad,” Yoongi added in, turning around from the corner to look at the three men sitting on the couch. “Did you guys date?” 

Seokjin was personally hoping he could hold off on this conversation…well, forever. That clearly wasn’t going to be the case, especially because the moment that Yoongi got home he would tell his two younger brothers who would then all three badger him for the story. 

“That is a story for another time,” Namjoon replied for Seokjin, clearly seeing that the other man was very uncomfortable. 

Jaebum had to admit he was very curious about their backstory himself, but he wasn’t going to pry into their personal affairs. 

“But why can’t we hear it now?” Hoseok asked, turning away from the corner as well.   
“Because you are supposed to be facing the corner and thinking about how you are going to apologize for your actions this evening,” Namjoon added, looking very sternly at his oldest son.   
“But isn’t that what I’m going to spend the next however many days I’m grounded doing?” Hoseok complained. 

Namjoon sighed—why did he want kids again? 

“Please tell us, dad,” Jimin said, turning around and giving Namjoon his best pouting puppy dog face. 

Oh right—because they are precious and adorable and Namjoon loves them with his whole heart. 

“I was right, wasn’t I?” Jackson couldn’t help but ask, turning around as well.   
“I was going to let the four of you watch the show, but if you keep disobeying us and don’t turn right back around and face those corners I’m not going to,” Namjoon added. 

All four boys immediately looked torn. They both wanted to know what was going on, but also really wanted to see Rap Monster perform. Ultimately they all decided that they clearly weren’t going to get answers at the moment and resigned themselves to turning back around and wallowing in misery and boredom—but they weren’t overly dramatic by any means, thank you very much. 

After another ten minutes the boys were let out of the corners and led to their places in the wings of the stage. Rap Monster was playing to a decent sized theater, and they all got swept up in their excitement. Hoseok and Jimin had both watched him perform many times before, but they too were still amazed by how incredible of a performer their father is. Jackson felt like he was living his best life—other than the fact that his father was keeping an annoyingly close watch on him, as if he thought Jackson would be stupid enough to sneak away. Jackson knew he was in enough trouble with Jaebum and Jinyoung, he wasn’t going to push it. Yoongi felt like all of his dreams had come true. This was his greatest rap idol and he was getting to see him this close. He was momentarily able to forget all the weird stuff that was between his father and this man. 

Sooner than the boys would have liked the concert was over and it was time for them to all head home and face their still very upset fathers. Yoongi for once was wishing that it was already Monday so he could talk to Jackson and Hoseok and find out what they learned about the situation. But alas, it was still Friday night and there was still quite the conversation he had to have with his father. 

Seokjin led the way into the house, quietly closing the garage door behind them once Yoongi had also walked through it. They quickly took off their shoes and slipped on their house slippers. Seokjin had a feeling that the way Yoongi was able to sneak out was because his mother had fallen asleep on the couch…and walking into the family room showed him just how correct he was. 

Seokjin was very happy that his mother was quite petite and he could easily pick her up from the couch and bring her to the bed in his guest room. 

“I’m going to put my mom in the guest room, go get your pajamas on and meet me in my bedroom,” Seokjin ordered. 

Yoongi knew he couldn’t do anything other than nod and go do as he was told. Seokjin quickly took care of putting his mother in the guest room and then went to the kitchen to put on the kettle for a cup of tea. After he finished making the two cups of tea, Seokjin heading towards his room—stopping in Taehyung and Jungkook’s shared bedroom to make sure that they were safe and sound. Once satisfied that all of his children were accounted for and contentedly sound asleep, Seokjin headed towards his bedroom. 

When Seokjin walked in, Yoongi was sat on top of the covers, playing with the fringe at the end of the golden pashmina blanket Seokjin had draped on his bed. 

“Here you go, kid,” Seokjin said, handing the cup of chamomile tea to Yoongi.   
“Thanks dad,” Yoongi said softly.   
“So we have a little bit to talk about, don’t we?” Seokjin asked with a sigh. 

As soon as Seokjin finished his sentence, Yoongi opened his mouth to reply—but Seokjin decided to quickly cut off what he knew would be the next words out of his mouth. 

“We are going to discuss you before we get into my relationship with Namjoon,” Seokjin said. “You have some explaining to do.” 

Yoongi groaned. 

“Look dad, I know that it was a dumb idea and I shouldn’t have done it. It’s not like I even really fully believed Jackson. But when he dared me to do it at my rap idol’s concert—I guess I lost my mind,” Yoongi explained, avoiding all eye contact with his father so he wouldn’t see the disappointment in his face. “I know it was a really stupid idea and I will never do it again.”   
“You better not,” Seokjin replied with a very stern looked, directed right at his son. “So many things could have gone wrong and I wouldn’t have known where you were.”   
“Sorry,” Yoongi softly replied, and then a thought crossed his mind. “You aren’t going to make me stop being friends with them, are you?”   
“As long as you make better choices from here on out, I have no problem with you being friends with them,” Seokjin appeased, placing a calming hand on his son’s shoulder. 

Yoongi nodded, breathing a sigh of relief. 

“So…how long am I grounded for?” Yoongi asked.   
“One week, no TV, video games, computer or going out with friends,” Seokjin replied. 

Yoongi sighed, but nodded. He understood generally why his father was upset—plus, it was only a week. He could handle that…hopefully. Plus, he was more curious about the next part of the conversation and didn’t have it in him to argue when he could be learning crucial information. 

“So how do you know Rap Monster?” Yoongi asked, looking up excitedly at his father only to witness him squirming a little in discomfort.   
“We met when we were both in college,” Seokjin admitted. “I was the RA and he was one of my students freshman year.”   
“And you dated?” Yoongi asked.   
“Not then…no. We were friends for a really long time,” Seokjin replied, trying to be as vague as possible in his story but still answer the gist of his son’s questions. 

It’s not that he was ashamed of their relationship, it was more so that after all these years the way it ended was still painful to think about. 

“But you did date?” Yoongi pressed.  
“Yes,” Seokjin admitted.   
“And you knew when I talked about my rap idol that it was him?” Yoongi asked.   
“Yes,” Seokjin said with a sigh. “He went by a different stage name when I knew him, but even then he was a very talented rapper and song writer.”   
“You are so much cooler than I ever gave you credit for,” Yoongi said in awe.

Seokjin couldn’t help but chuckle and shake his head. 

“Why don’t you go brush your teeth and get to bed. It’s pretty late and I think there are some chores with your name on them bright and early tomorrow,” Seokjin stated. 

Yoongi groaned, but reluctantly did as he was told. He could tell that he wouldn’t get any more out of his father—not tonight, at least. He would of course be telling Taehyung and Jungkook in the morning and the two of them had much better pouting faces than he did. 

Seokjin gave a kiss to his son’s forehead before allowing him to leave, and then started getting ready for bed himself. As he picked up his phone to plug it into the charger on his night stand, he saw that he had a message on his phone. Jaebum, Seokjin and Namjoon had exchanged phone numbers before they left so he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised to see his ex’s name come across the screen. 

Namjoon: Can we meet up for coffee some time this week? I really want to talk just you and I?.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for all the kudos and the lovely reviews. It took a little bit longer to update chapter 2 than I had hoped, but I had traveled back home to the US for a little over a week and then came back to Korea so it's been a whirlwind of a last week full of lots of jet lag. I am actually posting this at 4am my time because of jet lag. Lol. I hope to update the next chapter much more quickly.


	3. The Im/Park Household

Chapter 3

Jackson woke up to the light streaming through his window. He rolled over and looked at the clock on his nightstand, which informed him that it was only a little after 7 in the morning. He glanced across the room and saw that Mark was sound asleep on the bed on his side of the room. 

Jackson sighed, thinking about the uncomfortable conversation he was going to have with his two fathers in the near future. He had been immediately sent to bed upon arriving home the night before. He was told that they would discuss things in the morning when everyone was more awake. 

It only took a few moments for Jackson to feel completely restless. He didn’t want to stay in bed, but he also didn’t want to face the day and the uncomfortable conversation it would hold. Maybe there would be a way that he could avoid it…or at least put off the conversation for just a little bit longer.

He could go for a run. Genius! He didn’t think either of his dads were up yet. He could quickly slip into some running clothes. Then he could go out for awhile…and maybe his dads would forget that they needed to scold him. He didn’t even know if his appa knew yet what he had done. He had been asleep when his dad and he had gotten home last night. Maybe his dad would forget to tell his appa…. 

Jackson quickly slipped into some running clothes and headed down the stairs. He didn’t see or hear anyone along the way and he was hoping this was a sign that no one else was awake yet. He quickly made it to the entry way and found his sneakers on the shoe rack by the door. He was picking one up to slide onto his left foot when a voice spoke behind him. 

“Where are you off to at this hour?” The voice that he quickly recognized as his appa Jinyoung asked, causing Jackson to drop the shoe that was in his hand. 

Jackson froze for a moment before turning around to face his father. He would just have to play it cool. There was still a chance that Jinyoung didn’t know what he had done the night before. If his other father was still sound asleep then he wouldn’t have had a chance to tell Jinyoung…right? 

“Just woke up early and wanted to go out for a run,” Jackson said as calmly as he could. 

Jinyoung nodded in understanding. Jackson had to hold back a sigh of relief, or else it would be much too obvious. 

“You had some energy to kill?” Jinyoung asked as Jackson calmly turned to pick his left shoe once more.   
“Yeah, I just really wanted to stretch my legs,” Jackson replied.  
“Funny, I thought you would have stretched your legs enough when you snuck out to a concert last night,” Jinyoung replied, his tone even. 

Jackson groaned and dropped his shoe once more, standing up straight and facing his father. 

“Dad told you already?” Jackson whined.   
“I’ve known about it since he found you last night,” Jinyoung replied, crossing his arms over his chest. “He texted me immediately.”   
“Of course he did,” Jackson muttered to himself. 

Before anything else could be said, footsteps could be heard coming down the steps. Jackson and Jinyoung both turned to see Jaebum walking down the stairs.

“What’s going on here?” Jaebum asked, looking between his husband and his second oldest son.  
“Jackson here thought it was a great time for a run,” Jinyoung answered before Jackson could say anything. 

Jaebum crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow at Jackson. Jackson sighed and looked down at the floor in front of him instead of either of his fathers. 

“Sorry…” Jackson said softly.   
“You can go sit on the couch in the living room and wait for the rest of the family to get up,” Jaebum ordered. “And then we are going to go have breakfast before having a full family discussion.”   
“Seriously?” Jackson asked, whipping his head up in surprise. “Why does everyone have to witness me getting scolded?”   
“Go!” Jinyoung demanded, pointing towards the living room. 

Jackson rolled his eyes, but immediately did as he was told—not wanting to upset either of his fathers further. It wasn’t very long before more movement was heard in the house. A crash, followed by some laughter, was heard from upstairs signaling that the two youngest were definitely awake. Sure enough, not five minutes later Yugyeom and Bambam stumbled down the steps and into the living room. 

“What are you doing up, hyung?” Bambam asked upon seeing Jackson sitting on the couch.   
“None of your business,” Jackson said petulantly, crossing his arms over his chest. 

Bambam and Yugyeom looked at each other mischievously, before turning and both jumping on Jackson. 

“Come on hyung,” Yugyeom whined, attacking his brother with tickles.   
“You can tell us anything,” Bambam said with a sickeningly sweet voice, also attacking his older brother with tickles.

Jackson for his part knew he shouldn’t even be surprised by his two youngest brother’s reactions. They were both in 5th grade, and both full of so much energy. 

“What’s going on here?” A voice that Jackson recognized as Youngjae asked.  
“S—st—stop, I—“ Jackson tried to speak but was too busy laughing to be able to get the full sentence out—he couldn’t help it, he is horribly ticklish.   
“It’s much too early to be this happy,” Mark’s voice piped in, walking into the room after Youngjae. 

Mark didn’t stay to find out what was happening, but rather continued on through to the kitchen to see his two fathers drinking cups of coffee and making breakfast for all of them. 

“Good morning, Mark,” Jinyoung said with a smile, placing his mug down on the counter so that he could ruffle Mark’s hair.   
“Morning appa,” Mark replied, stifling a yawn.   
“What are you doing up so early?” Jaebum asked, glancing over his shoulder from where he was scrambling eggs in the frying pan.   
“Well I was invited to go to the park to play soccer with Alex, Jason, and Steven,” Mark said. “I wanted to meet with them around 9, is that okay?”   
“I don’t see why not,” Jinyoung replied. “But we do need to have a family meeting this morning, so you can leave as soon as that’s over.” 

Mark groaned. 

“Why do we have to have another family meeting?” Mark whined, sitting down on one of the stools at the counter.   
“Your brother got into a decent amount of trouble last night and we want to all discuss it together so we ensure that it doesn’t happen again,” Jinyoung explained.   
“What did Jackson do now?” Mark asked with a sigh.   
“We will get to that later,” Jaebum answered. “Why don’t you help your appa set the table so we can get breakfast started.” 

Mark wanted to protest, but ultimately decided against it. It was better to keep his dads happy if he wanted to still be allowed to go out with his friends. 

Ten minutes later found the entire family around the kitchen table enjoying breakfast together. Meals were never really quiet in the Im/Park household, and this one was no different. Yugyeom and Bambam spent a significant portion of the meal discussing the insane dreams that they had the night before. No one was ever really sure if they had those dreams, or if it was just a competition to see who could make up the most insane sounding dreams. Todays dreams featured trolls, unicorns and a magical talking walrus. 

Sooner than Jackson would have liked, the meal was finished and they were all ushered into the living room once more. Jackson was sat on the large couch between Youngjae and Mark while Bambam and Yugyeom squeezed onto one of the lounge chairs and Jinyoung and Jaebum sat on the love seat that was perpendicular with the couch. 

“Why are we having another family meeting?” Youngjae asked, looking around in confusion. They had just had one two days before to discuss their new schedules with the start of the school year. It was odd to have another one so soon after. 

Jinyoung and Jaebum both looked at Jackson, signaling it was time for the boy to speak up. 

“It’s because of me,” Jackson said with a sigh. “I…I messed up.”   
“No surprise there,” Mark muttered to himself, but unfortunately for him it wasn’t as quiet as he thought it was and he received a flick to the forehead by Jaebum.  
“Watch it,” Jaebum warned. 

Mark nodded and avoided eye contact. 

“What did you do?” Youngjae asked, looking at his older brother in curiosity.   
“I may have lead my friends to believe that I often sneak into concerts and get artists signatures,” Jackson said softly, picking at the skin around his fingers. “Then I persuaded them to sneak into Rap Monster’s concert last night.”  
“Did you get in?” Yugyeom asked in excitement. 

Jaebum leveled quite the stern look at his youngest, who then blushed and looked away. 

“Er—sort of,” Jackson replied. “Turns out my friend Hobi’s dad is actually Rap Monster but he didn’t realize that was the concert that we were sneaking into. And then in an even worse twist of fate, dad also knows Rap Monster and was at the concert last night. And then even Yoongi hyung’s dad somehow also knows Rap Monster.”  
“Wow, dad you are much cooler than I ever gave you credit for,” Bambam said looking at his father in awe.

Jaebum rolled his eyes at the compliment. 

“That’s not what you should be taking away from the story,” Jaebum said with a sigh. “But thanks.”  
“Now Jackson, what should your siblings be taking away from this?” Jinyoung asked, turning all his attention towards his second oldest.   
“That you shouldn’t lie to your friends to make you seem cooler,” Jackson said with a pout.   
“And?” Jaebum prompted.   
“And you shouldn’t sneak out to a concert, because dad knows way more people than you thought and you will probably be caught,” Jackson continued.   
“And you are putting yourself in danger by sneaking out and not telling us where you are,” Jinyoung added.   
“There’s that too,” Jackson said with a nod. “How long am I grounded for?”   
“Two weeks,” Jaebum replied, and swiftly continued when he saw that Jackson was opening his mouth to protest. “One week for lying to your friends and one week for sneaking out to the concert.”   
“You will not have your phone or your computer, you have very limited TV privileges and you won’t be going out with any of your friends,” Jinyoung added on. “You will also be helping your dad and I around the house. For example, today you are going to help your dad in the back yard because the fence needs painted.” 

Jackson groaned, but nodded. It wasn’t like his punishment was ever negotiable. He was just going to have to face the fact that he screwed up and deal with it. 

“Is that it?” Mark asked, looking over at both his dads with a pleading look. “Can I go hang out with my friends now?”   
“Yeah, go on,” Jaebum answered with a smile. 

Mark immediately shot off of the couch to go upstairs and quickly get changed. He was out of the house not even 10 minutes later. 

Mark liked his friends. They were considered the ‘cool’ crowd at school, and Mark finally felt like he fit in. Well sort of, he did feel like he constantly had to prove himself. There was the stereotype that because he was so small and Asian that he looked like a girl. But running around and kicking his friend’s butt at sports proved that he was anything but. 

“Damn Mark, are you going to join the soccer team this year?” Jason asked as they all lay panting on the grass after their soccer game. “I think coach would make you a starter.”   
“I think I might,” Mark replied with a small smile. “I just have to convince my dad that I don’t need to do taekwondo anymore and that will free up some time.”   
“Did he make you do it because you are Asian?” Steven asked with a laugh.   
“No, I wanted to do it,” Mark replied, jabbing Steven in the side. “Besides, it gives me the ability to kick your butt.” 

Mark tried to avoid conversations about his parents as much as possible. His friends had never met his family, and Mark made sure they didn’t even know that Jackson was his brother. It wasn’t hard with the different names thing. Based on the comments his friends made about being gay, Mark knew that if they were to find out that he had two dads it wouldn’t end well for him. Jackson might accidentally let something slip, so that’s why they couldn’t find out that he was brothers with the boy either. 

After a couple minutes the boys started sitting up one by one, finally gaining their energy back. 

“So my brother is having a party at our house tonight because my parents are out of town,” Alex informed them. “You guys should come over. We can definitely sneak a couple beers and we can hang out playing Overwatch in my room.”   
“Yeah that sounds great!” Steven immediately replied.   
“Can’t wait!” Jason piped in. 

The boys all turned to look at Mark. 

“Yeah, I’ll just sneak out so my parents don’t ask too many questions,” Mark said with a smile.

They would still be too busy making sure that Jackson didn’t skive off his grounding, it should be no problem…right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Next up will be Jin/Namjoon related.


	4. Muse

Chapter 4

Namjoon was relieved for it to finally be Monday so that he could send his two kids back to school. Don’t get him wrong, he loves his two sons with all of his heart. However, dealing with two grounded, whiny, and petulant kids all weekend took its toll. It also helped that Seokjin had agreed to meet Namjoon for coffee that morning, so Namjoon’s day was looking even brighter. 

Namjoon carefully got dressed, picking out an outfit that he knew Seokjin would love—or at least the Seokjin that he once knew would love. The outfit was very hipster-chic, topped off with his signature glasses. Seokjin was always telling Namjoon that he looked best with glasses on. 

He knew he was going to be a bit early, but Namjoon couldn’t help himself. He was too nervous and excited and was just one massive pile of emotions. It was seriously like he was back to being a teenager that had fallen head over heels for his RA. Namjoon sat at the cafe table slowly siping his iced Americano. He knew the caffeine wasn’t helping his nerves, but his love for coffee ran too deep. He had to have one. 

“Joon, how long have you been waiting here?” A voice said, causing Namjoon’s head to whip up from where he had been messing around on his phone.   
“Oh just a little bit, early start to the morning,” Namjoon said with a smile, taking in all of the man that is Kim Seokjin. 

Seokjin seemed to have a similar tactic to Namjoon. He was dressed in Namjoon’s favorite style (although, truth be told, Namjoon didn’t have a least favorite style on Jin). He looked like a million bucks, and was every bit as handsome as when Namjoon had last known him. 

“I bought you a coffee,” Namjoon said, sliding the iced vanilla latte across the table. “I hope it’s still your favorite.”   
“Some things never change,” Seokjin said with a smile, picking up the iced latte and taking a delicate sip, a smile gracing his lips at the familiar taste. “So how have you been? You seem to have done quite well for yourself, Runch Randa.”  
“God, no one has called me that in years,” Namjoon said with a laugh. “That brings back so many memories. There were some great times pre-Rap Monster.”   
“Yeah, well my son thinks you practically walk on water as Rap Monster,” Seokjin joked off-handedly.   
“We both know I’m much too clumsy for that,” Namjoon couldn’t help but jest. “And don’t think I don’t know that you are a best selling cookbook author and quite the renowned chef, hyung.”   
“So I see we both kept up with each other’s lives,” Seokjin replied, taking another deep swig of his coffee.   
“I mean, I know very little,” Namjoon replied with a slight blush. “I know about your career, obviously. I now know that you have a least one son, although I think you mentioned another.”   
“I have three,” Seokjin replied. “Yoongi is my oldest, and then I have Taehyung who is in 6th grade and Jungkook who is in 5th.”   
“And who is the lucky spouse?” Namjoon asked, his heart aching and only part of him wanted to hear the answer.  
“I’m not married,” Seokjin replied breezily. “Never have been. I decided at some point that I didn’t need someone to have the family that I wanted. I’m strong and independent and I could create that family on my own. I adopted all three of them when they were very young.”   
“You…you really aren’t with anyone?” Namjoon asked, his eyes lighting up. 

Seokjin couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Isn’t your spouse going to be upset that you get that excited by the fact that I’m not married?” Seokjin asked.   
“I’ve never married either,” Namjoon replied, his face suddenly turning very sad that Seokjin had to fight the urge to jump across the table and pull him into a hug. “Hoseok and Jimin are my brother and sister-in-laws kids. They died in a car accident a few years after we broke up. I took them in and raised them as my own, knowing that it was my duty to my hyung to provide for them. Jimin was only three weeks old.”   
“Namjoon,” Seokjin gasped out. “I’m so sorry for your loss. Your brother was truly such a beautiful spirit.” 

Namjoon wiped away a stray tear that had fallen. 

“I see so much of him in Hoseok and Jimin,” Namjoon explained. “They are both such joyous sunshines. I’ve never once regretted the decision to take them in and raise them as my own.”   
“I’m sure your brother would be very proud of you,” Seokjin said, placing his hand on Namjoon’s hand and giving it a squeeze.   
“Thanks,” Namjoon said with a sniffle. “But this isn’t supposed to be sad, this was supposed to be a happy meetup. I am always happy to see you.”   
“History would say differently,” Seokjin added. “We did break up for a reason, and we were very mad at each other. I distinctly remember some words that were said and some property that was broken.”  
“We were young and stupid, hyung,” Namjoon replied. “I wasn’t thinking about anything other than my career and it was a mistake.”   
“Mistake or not, it did happen,” Seokjin said.   
“What are you saying?” Namjoon asked.   
“I think that’s my question to you,” Seokjin retaliated. “Did you come here expecting me to fall into your arms and pick up where we left off 14 years ago? You thought I was married, did you expect me to leave someone?”   
“No, I would have backed off if that were the case,” Namjoon replied. “But I had hope. I had hope that we would both be in a place where we could pick things back up.”   
“Get right back into dating?” Seokjin asked with a raised eyebrow. “We don’t even know each other anymore, Joon. We still have a hell of a lot of catching up to do and some serious talks to be had.”   
“What are you proposing?” Namjoon asked.   
“That we start off as old friends meeting again,” Seokjin reasoned. “We need to at least start there. I make no promises that anything more than friendship will happen, but it is nice to see you again Joonie. I won’t lie about that.”

Namjoon sat there for a minute digesting all that Seokjin had to say to him. 

“I’ll take what I can get,” Namjoon finally said with a nod. “I’m glad to have an old friend back. Now, I must go.”   
“Where?” Seokjin asked, picking up his empty cup to return to the counter.   
“I’m a songwriter, hyung,” Namjoon said with a sheepish smile. “And I’ve gotten a hell of a lot of inspiration in the past couple days. You were always my muse.”   
“You’ve certainly done fine in the last fourteen years,” Seokjin said with a snort. 

Namjoon stopped and turned, grabbing hold of both of Jin’s hands, causing the other man to look into his eyes. 

“You were ALWAYS my muse,” Namjoon said the words slowly and clearly before letting go and turning and walking out of the cafe. 

Namjoon didn’t generally consider himself to be reckless. He liked logic and order. He liked things in their place. But when it came to Seokjin, it was like his heart did the talking and not his head. He was sure when he was in his studio later, he would replay their conversation and regret how desperate he sounded…but it was Seokjin, and all bets were off. 

Over at the middle school Yoongi, Hoseok and Jackson had just met up for their lunch period. It was a nice day so they had found a spot under one of the trees on the school grounds and had set their lunchboxes down on the grass in front of them. 

“I’m sorry about lying to you guys,” Jackson blurted out as soon as they had all sat down. “I don’t know why I did it…er—well, that’s not true. I know why I did it. I wanted you guys to think I’m cool, like my brother’s friends think he is. That doesn’t excuse what I did, and I’m so sorry that I dragged you guys into this trouble and…”   
“Jackson!” Yoongi yelled out, causing the boy to stop in mid-sentence. “Breathe. It’s okay, well I mean it’s not okay, but we get it.”   
“How mad was your dad?” Hoseok asked, before taking a big bite of his apple.   
“Which one?” Jackson asked with a groan.

Hoseok and Yoongi both paused and then turned to look at Jackson in confusion. 

“Okay, you are going to have to give me a quick run-down on your family,” Hoseok spit out with a laugh.   
“I have my dad Jaebum and my Appa Jinyoung,” Jackson explains. “They adopted all of us kids. Then I have four brothers: Mark, Youngjae, Bambam, and Yugyeom. Both my fathers were obviously very upset. I’m grounded for the next two weeks.”   
“Jimin and I both got one week,” Hoseok complained.   
“I got one week as well,” Yoongi said with a sigh. “At least we can see each other at school, though.” 

Before they could continue their conversation, a group of four boys came walking by. Yoongi thought they looked vaguely familiar—sure that they were in his grade rather than in the one below. 

“What do we have here?” The tallest member of the group said with a smirk. “Three losers sitting under our tree?”   
“I don’t see your name on it,” Yoongi snapped back without a second thought.   
“Aren’t you in our grade?” A boy with bright red hair asked. “Why are you hanging out with 7th graders?”   
“Because they have a higher IQ and emotional capacity than all four of you combined,” Yoongi replied with a shrug. “There are plenty of other trees to sit under, go find another one. Besides, Mrs. Harris is heading this way as we speak.” 

The boy with red hair glared at Yoongi, but clearly didn’t want to be caught in any form of argument by a teacher.

“Whatever Asian nerds, don’t think that this is over,” the boy with red hair said before stomping off, his group of friends following closely behind him. 

Yoongi looked ready to punch the boy’s face in. Hoseok just watched after them in confusion—what about him was a nerd? He literally lived and breathed dance…not academics? But also…

“How does he get off calling us Asian nerds when that kid with him definitely is one of us?” Hoseok asked after they had walked out of earshot.   
“He is the worst,” Jackson grumbled out, picking angrily at the grapes in his lunchbox.   
“You know him?” Yoongi asked, quickly turning to give Jackson all of his attention. “Is that red-haired kid bothering you? If he is bullying you we can do something about it.”   
“No, not him. The super thin one—Mark” Jackson replied.   
“He didn’t say anything?” Hoseok asked, getting even more confused.  
“Exactly,” Jackson said, picking up a grape so roughly that he crushed it.

Hoseok pondered Jackson’s words for a moment before coming to a realization. 

“Wait a second, don’t tell me that is your brother Mark?” Hoseok asked in shock.   
“The very same,” Jackson replied. “He and his friends are jerk faces.”   
“Interesting way to phrase it,” Yoongi said with a small laugh. “But I happen to agree. Do your dads know?”   
“They know Mark and I aren’t getting along right now,” Jackson answered with a shrug. “But I don’t think they know how much I hate Mark’s friends. The only reason he hangs out with them is because he thinks they make him part of the popular crowd—I mean I guess it does, but he is living a lie. He won’t even tell his friends that I’m his younger brother.”   
“He’ll come around eventually and see how awful his friends are,” Hoseok said, ever the optimist. “In the meantime, you’ve got us.” 

Jackson smiled genuinely at Hoseok’s words. It was true that he seemed to have lucked out with the two friends that he met on his first day of middle school. 

Over at the elementary school, Jimin was sitting in his science class listening to his teacher talk about their upcoming science project. They were going to be making model cells, and they were going to do it with a partner. The teacher was picking partners for the class, causing everyone to groan. Jimin didn’t really mind, he tended to be somewhat shy and didn’t really have that many friends at the school. His best friend had just moved to Florida over the summer, so Jimin wasn’t expecting 6th grade to be any fun at all. 

“Jimin,” the teacher called out. “You will be working with Taehyung.” 

Taehyung looked across the classroom and saw a boy raising his hand and waving excitedly at him with a very boxy-smile. Jimin didn’t know much about Taehyung, other than that he seemed to know almost everyone but most everyone seemed to think he was a bit…strange? 

“Hi Jiminie!” Taehyung called out excitedly as Jimin sat down next to him. “My name is Taehyung and we are going to be the best of friends!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading this story :) Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.


	5. Change

Chapter 5

Jimin had very quickly learned to never underestimate Kim Taehyung. The boy would succeed at everything he set his mind to, whether that was a school project or declaring that they would be best friends. It had only been four days since they were placed as partners, and Jimin already felt super close to the boy. It was like they had known each other forever. Taehyung went out his way to make sure Jimin felt loved—whether that be giving him chocolates because he said he was thinking of him, or randomly complimenting him as they passed each other in the hallway. Some people might be freaked out by the attention, but Jimin could tell that Taehyung was the literal definition of genuine. 

That’s how Jimin found himself asking his dad if he could hang out with his new friend the following evening. 

“Hey dad?” Jimin asked, plopping down on the black couch in Namjoon’s studio.  
“Yeah?” Namjoon asked, minimizing the screen on his computer and turning towards his youngest son to give him his full attention.  
“You know I love you lots and you are the best dad in the world, right?” Jimin asked, giving his father the biggest and brightest smile he could muster.  
“While that’s flattering,” Namjoon said with a smile as well. “I know this compliment isn’t without an ulterior motive.”  
“So I met this friend at school, his name is Tae,” Jimin began. “He is so nice to me. We were put together for a project and we just clicked. Like he is now my best friend, even though I’ve known him for less than a week. He even stopped everyone from making fun of me when I tripped in the hallway the other day.”  
“Well that’s awfully nice of him,” Namjoon said, getting up from his desk chair and walking over to the couch to sit down next to him. “But where is this leading?”  
“So he invited me to go to the park tomorrow after school with him, and don’t worry his dad would be there as well, but there is one slight problem ,” Jimin said quickly in one breath.  
“You’re still grounded,” Namjoon said with a nod. “So that’s where this is going. You haven’t told Tae that your grounded?”  
“No…I was hoping that since it’s the last day of my grounding that you would be nice and let me off,” Jimin said, giving his father the best puppy dog eyes he could gather. “Or if we could switch my grounding to Saturday instead or something? Please?” 

Namjoon sighed. He hated having to make decisions like this sometimes. 

“Do you know what you did wrong?” Namjoon asked.  
“Yeah, I shouldn’t have snuck out to that concert, even though hyung did it too,” Jimin admitted, playing with the hem of his t-shirt.  
“And what’s wrong with sneaking out?” Namjoon asked further.  
“I put myself in danger because you didn’t know where I was, I caused the babysitter a lot of worry, and I broke your trust by doing something I knew I shouldn’t be doing,” Jimin said softly, avoiding looking at his father.  
“Okay, then I don’t see why we can’t strike a deal,” Namjoon said, causing Jimin to snap his head up in surprise.  
“Really?” Jimin asked, his eyes as big as saucers. “I’ll take it!”  
“You don’t know what it is yet,” Namjoon said with a laugh.  
“What is it?” Jimin asked.  
“I will let you go to the park tomorrow with your friend,” Namjoon said. “If you help me clean out the garage on Saturday.” 

Jimin wrinkled his nose at that. It was literally his least favorite task to do…but it was worth it….right? 

“I’ll take it,” Jimin said, although a little more reluctantly. 

Namjoon stuck his hand out for the other boy to shake. 

“Then we have a deal,” Namjoon said as they shook hands. “Now I do want this boy’s father’s phone number.” “Already have it,” Jimin said, pulling out a slip of paper from his pocket. “Tae thought you might ask for it.”  
“Smart kid,” Namjoon said with a laugh, reaching over and ruffling his son’s hair before grabbing the paper. “Love you kid.”  
“Love you too dad!” Jimin called out behind him as he ran out of the studio. 

Namjoon sighed, and leaned back on the couch. He was hoping he did the right thing. He knew there was going to be another child visiting him when he found out, but he would deal with that when Hoseok arrived. For now it was time to message this Tae’s father. Namjoon pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened up his contacts. He went to add a contact only to realize as he was typing the number in that this number was already on his phone…saved as none other than Jinnie Hyung. 

Seokjin was in the kitchen washing dishes when he heard his phone beep in his pocket. He quickly finished up the last pot that he was washing, and dried his hands off on the paisley print dish towel that hung from a hook next to the sink. When his hands were dry enough, he pulled his phone out of his pocket to see who had texted him. He was only slightly surprised to see that it was Namjoon. The two had been texting a little bit since they had met up that previous Monday. 

Namjoon: So apparently our lives are even more intertwined than we thought. It turns out the Tae that my son just asked to go to the park with is none other than your son. 

Seokjin stared at his phone for a couple moments before impulsively hitting the call button. 

“Hello?” Namjoon asked after only one ring.  
“I thought this would be easier than texting,” Seokjin replied. “So I guess when Taehyung has been talking about ‘Minnie’ that would be your son Jimin.”  
“The very same,” Namjoon replied with a laugh. “We worked out a deal, so I am letting Jimin go to the park with you guys tomorrow.”  
“If you are free, you should come with,” Seokjin suggested, thinking it would be nice to see Namjoon once more—that and it would be nice to have someone to talk to while he sat on the bench and watched his kids run around like maniacs. “I’m bringing Jungkook and Yoongi as well. Yoongi hates being out in sunlight, so taking him to the park is ironically a punishment in and of itself, even if you and Hoseok come.” 

Namjoon had to only think it over for a couple seconds before he agreed. He wasn’t going to say no to seeing Seokjin again. So that was how Namjoon found himself waiting outside in the grassy area between the middle school and high school the next afternoon. There were a couple park benches and he had taken up residence on one of them with a handsome man who appeared to be around the same age as him. The man had very striking eyes and Namjoon quickly started a conversation with him, out of mere curiosity. 

“Hi, I’m Namjoon,” Namjoon said, sticking out his hand for the other man to shake. 

Namjoon got a smile in return, as the man reached out his own hand to shake. 

“I’m Jinyoung,” the man replied.  
“Ah! Also Korean I see,” Namjoon said with a beaming smile—the area that he had chosen to raise his children in the suburbs wasn’t nearly as diverse as Namjoon would sometimes like. It was always nice to meet another fellow Korean.  
“Yes, I am. I assume you are here waiting to pick up a son or daughter?” Jinyoung asked, figuring he better get that out of the way quickly. This Namjoon guy was friendly enough, but you never knew—he could be childless and just praying on kids—Jinyoung had a little bit of an active imagination.  
“Yes, two sons actually,” Namjoon replied. “They usually walk home, but I’m actually meeting them here to go to the park with them. What about yourself?”  
“Five sons,” Jinyoung replied, and then laughed at the shock on Namjoon’s face. “And my afternoon is going to be less fun—I’m taking all five of them to the dentist.”  
“Ooh that’s rough,” Namjoon said with a cringe.  
“It’ll be fine, I’ll bribe them to behave by promising them ice cream afterwards,” Jinyoung said with a laugh.  
“Namjoon!” A voice called from behind them, and the two men turned around to see Seokjin walking towards them. 

Namjoon smiled and waved in greeting, but dropped his hand in confusion when Seokjin stopped walking and stared in shock at Jinyoung. 

“Park Jinyoung?” Seokjin practically squealed out, running up and hugging the other man tightly. “I can’t believe it!’ 

Namjoon watched the scene unfolding in front of him in pure confusion. He felt a pit in his stomach, that he quickly recognized as immense jealousy. Who was this man and how was he so close to the man that Namjoon still loved so deeply. 

“Hyung! It’s been so long,” Jinyoung said, excitement also evident in his tone. 

Namjoon couldn’t help himself, and had to butt into their conversation. 

“How do you two know each other?” Namjoon asked, putting on what he hoped looked like a genuine smile. 

Seokjin looked awkward, shifting from foot to foot. 

“We dated for the briefest of times,” Seokjin replied. “Fairly soon after we broke up.”  
“Ahhh…so this is THE Namjoon?” Jinyoung asked, raising an eyebrow at Seokjin.  
“That would be the very same,” Seokjin replied sheepishly, his ears tinting a bit pink at the top. 

Before Namjoon could find any more about their past relationship, the middle school had let out and students were streaming their way, either to meet some of the other parents that were milling around or to wait for their siblings from the elementary school. 

“Hey appa,” a boy with a shock of bright red hair said, walking up to Jinyoung.  
“Hey Mark, how was school?” Jinyoung asked, ruffling the boys hair and earning a groan in reply.  
“Stop!” Mark whined, swatting his father’s hand away. “And school was fine, pretty glad it’s Friday to be honest.”  
“Where is your brother?” Jinyoung asked, looking around for one of his other sons.  
“I don’t know, I’m not his keeper,” Mark said with a shrug. 

Jinyoung slapped his son lightly on the arm. 

“Cut the sass,” Jinyoung replied. “I know you would much rather be hanging out with your friends, but you all have to get to the dentist. You can see them tomorrow.”  
“Still sucks,” Mark mumbled in reply, kicking the grass in front of him lightly. 

Mark then seemed to notice that there were two men that he didn’t know standing next to his dad. Mark’s eyes widened when he noticed one of them was none other than THE Rap Monster. Jinyoung noticed where his son was looking and realized he hadn’t introduced them. 

“You know Rap Monster, too?” Mark asked, his voice cracking on his words.  
“What?” Jinyoung asked, turning and looking at the two men standing next to him in confusion—he recognized the name, since his husband talked about the man, but had no idea what he looked like. 

Before any more questions could be asked, the other three kids showed up. Each son going up to greet their respective father.

“Appa! Can’t we lie and say we went to the dentist?” Jackson whined. “Dad doesn’t need to know.”  
“Jackson, that’s not gonna happen and you know it,” Jinyoung said sternly, crossing his arms over his chest. “You are still grounded the rest of this week because of your lying habits. I’m starting to think I should add more.” 

Jackson immediately got down on his knees in the grass. 

“No, please! I was just kidding!” Jackson begged. “Two weeks is more than enough for me to understand.”  
“Okay, okay, get up,” Jinyoung said with a chuckle, tapping his son under the chin lightly before grabbing his arm and helping him up.  
“Wait, are you Jaebum hyung’s husband?” Namjoon asked, recognizing Jackson from the incident the previous Friday.  
“Yeah,” Jinyoung said with a smile. “How do you know him?”  
“We have worked on songs together before,” Namjoon replied.  
“So you must be Rap Monster,” Jinyoung said, finally putting all the pieces together.

Namjoon had to admit he felt a massive amount of relief go through him. Jaebum was very vocal about how much he and his husband love each other and how much they adore their family. Jinyoung was no risk to his—er potential—relationship with Seokjin. 

“How do you not know what Rap Monster looks like appa?” Jackson asked in shock. “He is literally one of the greatest rappers of all time.”  
“Try not to let that get to your head,” Seokjin muttered beside Namjoon, causing the other to laugh.  
“Thank you,” Namjoon just replied with a smile.  
“Sorry I’m late!” A voice said, panting as they came to stand next to their group. “Ah, I see you guys have all met each other.”  
“Hey dad, I didn’t know you were coming too,” Mark said, suddenly looking around to make sure that none of his friends were still in the area.  
“I thought your Appa here could use some help getting you guys all to the dentist,” Jaebum replied, and then looked at his eldest in confusion. “Why am I not cool enough to be seen with you?”  
“I mean you are definitely much cooler now that I know you are friends with someone as legendary as Rap Monster,” Jackson piped in.

Jaebum just rolled his eyes.

“The disrespect,” Jaebum muttered causing everyone in their group to laugh. 

It wasn’t long before the elementary school had let out as well and all of their kids had joined them outside. Jaebum and Jinyoung immediately took their boys to the car, wanting to get this dentist trip over as quickly as possible. 

“Five kids, I can’t even imagine,” Seokjin said after the Im/Park family had driven off. “That’s got to constantly be insane.”  
“Yeah, two is crazy enough,” Namjoon joked, causing both Jimin and Hoseok to turn around and act offended.  
“We are angels dad,” Hoseok said with a truly angelic smile.  
“When you want to be,” Namjoon replied, picking up a giggling Jimin and throwing him over his shoulder—the kid, though 11, was still very tiny.  
“Dad!” Jimin squealed. “Put me down.”  
“Oh trust me, three is no walk in the park either,” Seokjin said, sticking his tongue out at his three children. 

They kept their banter up all the way to the park, and once there it took no time at all for Jimin, Taehyung and Jungkook to run off towards the playground. Yoongi and Hoseok stayed behind for a moment, until Hoseok realized that Yoongi had no intention of playing on the playground so Hoseok took off after the others. 

If Seokjin thought he was going to be able to spend all this time at the park catching up with Namjoon, he had severely underestimated his son’s love for Rap Monster. Yoongi immediately sat down on the bench next to Namjoon and started asking him a million and one questions. 

“When did you know that you wanted to become a rapper?” Yoongi asked, stars practically dancing in his eyes in his excitement.  
“When I was in middle school,” Namjoon replied with a soft smile, very amused by Yoongi’s excitement. “I stopped paying attention in class and instead started writing songs and raps.”  
“I’ve known I wanted to be a rapper since I saw your debut performance as Rap Monster,” Yoongi gushed, speaking so quickly he was almost stumbling over his words. “Dad never told me that he knew you! I would have freaked out. You are the coolest rapper of your generation. Those other rappers were assholes for insulting you.”  
“Language,” Seokjin added in sternly, to which Yoongi turned a little red and nodded—he had honestly forgotten that his father was still there with them. “Why don’t you give Namjoon here a little break and go play with the others?”  
“But dad, this is the opportunity of a lifetime!” Yoongi complained.  
“And you are going to get many more chances to ask him questions, between you and Hoseok and now Jimin and Taehyung being good friends I have a feeling we are going to be seeing a lot of each other,” Seokjin reminded.

Yoongi reluctantly nodded and headed off towards the other kids. 

“Sorry about that,” Seokjin said with a sigh once his son was out of earshot. “He doesn’t realize how excited he gets. It can be a lot.”  
“I don’t mind,” Namjoon said with a shrug. “He seems like a great kid. Does he have any talent at rapping?”  
“I wouldn’t know, he keeps all his songs a secret,” Seokjin replied. “I bet he would show them to you if you asked, though.”  
“Nothing unusual about that, kids all have their ‘idols’ so to speak,” Namjoon comforted, hearing the slight bit of jealousy in Seokjin’s voice. “Hobi and Jimin go on and on all the time about these dancers that I’ve never heard of.”  
“You would have the two kids who are graceful and inclined at dance, very much the opposite of you,” Seokjin joked.

Namjoon grabbed at his chest as if he had been wounded by Seokjin’s words. 

“From what I remember, you were no better than I am, hyung,” Namjoon shot back.  
“And I promise, that hasn’t changed,” Seokjin said with a laugh. 

No, some things clearly hadn’t changed—it was still just as comfortable to talk with each other as it had been all those years ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thanks again for your interest in my story!


	6. Sunday

Chapter 6

Mark was more than a little bit tipsy while trying to sneak back into his home. It took him several times to try to fit the key into the lock. Luckily, by his third attempt he was able to successfully unlock the door and make his way quietly into the home. He was very happy to see that all of the lights were off in the house, meaning that everyone else was asleep. He was supposed to have been home about an hour and a half previously, but he had majorly lost track of time while partying it up with his friends. He didn’t mean to drink—or well, he didn’t mean to drink so much. But his friends were drinking, and he didn’t want to be the odd one out. 

Mark’s next difficult task was getting his shoes off. He was wearing a pair of boots, so it wasn’t like he was able to just flick his shoes off. He had to maintain his balance while he leaned over and untied the laces. It took him far longer than it normally would have, but it was also a success and he internally cheered for his triumph. 

He took a couple steps down the hallway, heading for the kitchen to grab a glass of water, rather than immediately walking up the steps. He had heard that it was good to drink water after drinking, so that your hangover wouldn’t be so bad in the morning. He would have to appear completely sober and hangover free or else his dads would literally kill him. Their 14 year old son drinking alcohol—yeah, he could hear the lectures already. 

Two more steps down the hallway, Mark was passing by the family room when a light flicked on. Mark froze. Mark prayed with everything that he had that it was one of his brothers who had stayed up too late playing video games. It wouldn’t be unusual for them to do it in the dark with the sound off so that their parents didn’t find out. Mark slowly turned on the spot to peek at who was sitting on the couch. 

“We set a curfew for a reason young man,” Jinyoung said, crossing his arms over his chest and giving his eldest son a hard stare. 

Mark’s stomach dropped, and his mind was just racing thinking that he desperately needed to act sober. His only slight relief was that it was his appa that was catching him red handed and not his slightly stricter dad. It was only a slight relief though. 

“Come in here and sit down,” a voice commanded, that Mark couldn’t see from his spot in the hallway. 

Well there went his small relief that his dad wasn’t awake as well. 

Mark barely held back a sigh as he tried to walk as inconspicuously into the family room as possible. Walking into the family room he saw that his dad was sitting on the recliner and looked just as pissed as his appa did. Great…just great. 

“Why do you smell like a bar?” Jinyoung asked while Mark passed him. “Have you been drinking?” 

Mark gulped and avoided all eye contact. He briefly wondered if he could lie and say that someone had just spilled beer on him and that he hadn’t been drinking, but of course at that moment he stumbled on the corner of the carpet and was sent falling sideways—luckily onto the couch beside him. 

“Well I guess that answers that question,” Jaebum grumbled in reply. 

Mark hardly acknowledged his dad’s statement, instead worrying about his very rapidly deteriorating state. The fall had left him quite dizzy and had made his stomach roll. He feared that he was going to puke all over the family room very soon. Jinyoung must have sensed his distress and was quickly ushering him into the bathroom, that was luckily close by. It was not a second too soon, as the moment his head was over the toilet he felt bile rise in his throat and he proceeded to vomit.

Mark didn’t know how long he was kneeling there on the bathroom floor with his head in the toilet. It seemed like ages, but finally his stomach let up enough that he could lay his head against the cool porcelain and take comfort in his appa’s hand that was rubbing gentle circles on his back. 

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Mark asked after a few moments of silence. “I thought for sure I would be getting the lecture of a lifetime right now.”  
“Oh, don’t worry,” Jinyoung said, his hand coming up to stroke through Mark’s hair. “That will come in the morning. It wouldn’t do much good now when you are like this. No, it will be much more effective when you are potentially very much hungover.” 

Mark groaned at that answer. 

“Dad is going to kill me, isn’t he?” Mark asked with a sigh.  
“Awe, that’s cute. You think I’m not going to kill you as well,” Jinyoung said softly, his hands not stopping their stroking of his son’s hair. 

Mark just groaned, already dreading the morning. 

“Now do you think you are well enough to come with me and get ready for bed?” Jinyoung asked, stopping his stroking and lifting Mark’s head up to look him in the eyes.  
“Yeah, I think I’ve finished puking my guts up,” Mark said in reply, his throat burning with every word and feeling like a literal desert wasteland.  
“Okay, up you get then,” Jinyoung said, putting his hands under Mark’s arms in order to help him up off the floor. 

Mark allowed his father to lead him out of the bathroom and up the stairs. It was with mild confusion that he allowed himself to be led not to his own bedroom, but rather to his parents’ bedroom. They walked in to find Jaebum standing there with plaid pajama bottoms on and no shirt. 

“You feeling any better?” Jaebum asked, looking worriedly at his eldest son. 

Mark nodded sheepishly, wondering if his dad was about to lay into him. 

“Here, sip this,” Jaebum said, picking up a glass off of his bedside table and handing it to Mark. 

Mark very gratefully took the glass of water and took a couple small sips, the cool liquid instantly soothing his very parched throat. 

“Thanks,” Mark said quietly, as if he spoke too loud it would ruin the calm mood of the room.  
“Here are your pajamas and I’ve made up the couch in here for you,” Jaebum said, handing the pajamas to his son and pointing to the couch that was situated across from the master bed.  
“Why am I sleeping in here?” Mark asked.  
“We can’t have you choking on your vomit in your sleep,” Jinyoung explained. “No, we need you close by in case anything is to go wrong.”  
“I’ve put a bin beside the couch here in case you do need to throw up in the night,” Jaebum said, pointing to the trash can that was indeed right next to the couch.  
“Thanks,” Mark said softly, looking guiltily down at the floor. 

Mark quickly got changed and brushed his teeth—his dad had helpfully brought his toothbrush into the master bathroom. When he came back into the bedroom Jinyoung was also changed into his pajamas, and Mark found both of his fathers waiting for him. He felt very much like a child while they tucked him under the covers and both proceeded to kiss him goodnight on the forehead. 

Yeah…this was definitely a tease. Tomorrow was not going to be nearly as pleasant. Mark couldn’t worry about that now, though. He was too tired and quickly drifted off. 

The morning at the Kim’s was anything but relaxing. Namjoon was stressed. His babysitter had canceled and he was supposed to be in meetings all day for work, even though it was a Sunday. The music industry didn’t do 9-5 jobs, though, so Namjoon had learned to live with it. After calling two other potential babysitters, and having both of them flake on him Namjoon literally didn’t have a clue what he was going to do. That was until a bright idea popped into his head. He pulled out his phone and quickly clicked on the contact. 

“Hello?” Seokjin answered the phone after a couple rings.  
“Hey, I hope I didn’t wake you,” Namjoon said.  
“You know I’m an early riser,” Seokjin replied with a laugh. “What’s up?”  
“Listen, I wouldn’t be asking you this if it weren’t absolutely crucial,” Namjoon pleaded. “My babysitter cancelled and none of the usual ones are available. I know Hoseok could probably watch over Jimin all day without a problem, but I’m not particularly fond of leaving my 13 year old in charge of my 12 year old when I’m not even sure when I will be coming home.”  
“Bring them over here, it’s no problem,” Seokjin said in reply.  
“Are you sure, hyung? It’s not a problem?” Namjoon asked.  
“Your kids are practically angels,” Seokjin said with a chuckle. “It’s no problem at all. Besides, Taehyung and Yoongi will be very happy to have their friends over.”  
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Namjoon said. “I have to leave in 20 minutes for my meetings, is that too early to bring them over?”  
“No, that’s no problem. The boys aren’t awake yet, but that’s no problem,” Seokjin answered. “They will get a nice surprise when they do.”  
“Thanks again, hyung. Any time you need it reciprocated, just let me know. See you soon,” Namjoon said before hanging up the phone. 

Hoseok and Jimin were very delighted to learn that they would be going over to their friend’s house for the day. They were ready and in the car faster than Namjoon had ever seen them do before. 

Over at the Park-Im house things were going a little bit differently. Everyone was still sound asleep in the master bedroom when the doors of the bedroom flung open. 

“Dad! Appa! Mark is missing! He never came home!” Jackson screeched out, flying into the bedroom frantically. 

Jaebum and Jinyoung both shot up in bed, looking around in confusion at the disturbance. Over on the couch, Mark groaned, clutching his head and pulling the covers up over him to try to block out some of the light and sound. Jackson heard the noise and looked over in confusion. 

“Oh…er—never mind, I found him?” Jackson said, looking back and forth between his parents and his brother in confusion. “Why is he sleeping in here?”  
“Your brother snuck in late last night, fairly drunk,” Jinyoung explained around a yawn. 

Jackson cringed at that—his dads were surely going to read his brother the riot act for that one. 

“Oh, um…sorry for waking you,” Jackson muttered.  
“Don’t worry about it,” Jaebum said, patting the bed next to him. “Come here.” 

Jackson walked over and sat down in between his two dads. 

“I’m glad that your first response is to come to us,” Jinyoung said, rubbing Jackson’s back knowing that the boy thrived on any personal attention. “You’re a good brother.”  
“I really don’t think Mark would agree,” Jackson responded, picking at the blanket below him.  
“Mark is right here and would greatly appreciate if we could all have a quieter conversation,” Mark said, though it came out very muffled through the blankets he was hiding under.  
“That’s what Mark gets for becoming best friends with Jack and Jim,” Jaebum said raising his voice, rather than softening it. 

Mark whimpered, feeling like he had a drummer inside his head who was trying to bash his skull in. 

“That’s a good one, dad,” Jackson said with a smile.  
“I’m glad someone appreciates my humor,” Jaebum replied, looking over at his husband in accusation.  
“Your son is just happy that he isn’t the one in trouble at the moment,” Jinyoung pointed out.  
“I’ll take what I can get,” Jaebum said with a shrug. 

Jaebum leaned over and kissed his second oldest son on top of the head and then got out of bed. He did a big stretch before walking over to where Mark was wallowing in misery on the couch. Jaebum grabbed the covers that Mark was holding and flung them off the boy, piling them on the floor. 

“Up and at ‘em,” Jaebum said cheerfully. “I expect you showered and down at the kitchen table in 20 minutes.”  
“Can I at least have some Tylenol?” Mark croaked out, squinting in the light that was coming through the window.  
“Top shelf of the medicine cabinet in the bathroom,” Jinyoung replied. “Now get moving.” 

It took everything Mark had to get his body to get out of bed and into the shower. He took the Tylenol and prayed that it would work a very quick miracle, but somehow he highly doubted that it would. 

He was still in a decent amount of pain when he sat down at the kitchen counter 20 minutes later. It certainly didn’t help that tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum were now awake and all but crashing into the kitchen. 

“Good morning boys,” Jinyoung said, taking a sip of his coffee.  
“Morning dad!” Yugyeom and Bambam replied in unison and then giggled about their synchronicity.

Mark wanted to die. He was certain of it. In fact, this had to be what death felt like. 

Over at Seokjin’s home, Namjoon had already dropped off his two sons and was on his way to his meeting. Jimin decided to sneak into Taehyung and Jungkook’s room to wake up his friend, while Hoseok decided to sit and chat with Seokjin in the kitchen—he had too much self-preservation to believe that it would be a good idea to wake up Yoongi. 

Taehyung was sound asleep when Jimin snuck in, with Jungkook snoozing equally as deeply in the bed across from his brother. Jimin smiled at how cute they both looked, lost in their dreams. He snuck up to the bed and practically jumped on top of Taehyung, wrapping his arms around the boy. 

“Not now Jungkookie, I’m sleeping,” Taehyung muttered his voice raspy, not even bothering to open his eyes.  
“Last I checked I’m not Jungkook,” Jimin said with a laugh. 

Taehyung’s eyes snapped open and he sat up in shock. 

“Jiminie! What are you doing here!” Taehyung squealed, causing Jungkook to sit up in confusion in his bed across the room.  
“What’s going on?” Jungkook asked, looking around half asleep, clearly not processing anything that he was seeing.  
“My dad is in meetings all day and our babysitter cancelled on him, so your dad agreed to let Hoseokie hyung and I stay here for the day,” Jimin explained.  
“Oh my God! We are going to have so much fun!” Taehyung exclaimed. “We can play video games, and read comic books, and bake cupcakes.” 

Jimin’s smile grew even bigger on his face—yeah, he really was glad to have Taehyung in his life. 

Jimin and Taehyung looked over to ask Jungkook if he had anything he wanted to do with them, but found that the boy had already fallen back asleep. Taehyung shrugged and pushed the covers back on his bed. 

“Let’s go see if my dad has made breakfast yet!” Taehyung suggested. 

Jimin followed Taehyung through the house and into the kitchen where they found Hoseok and Seokjin chatting at the kitchen table—Seokjin drinking a cup of coffee and Hoseok drinking a cup of tea. 

“You can really teach me how to cook?” Hoseok asked, his eyes widening and his mouth dropping open.  
“It would be my honor,” Seokjin replied, a soft smile playing on his lips at the boy’s excitement.  
“It’s just that my dad is such a terrible cook, it would really be nice to be able to have some more home cooked meals that aren’t spaghetti with sauce from a jar and ramen,” Hoseok explained, to which Jimin emphatically nodded while walking up behind them.  
“Oh trust me, I know exactly how terrible of a cook your father is,” Seokjin said with a wince—he still was upset over the incident with Namjoon burning his favorite pan. “I will never understand how you father can leave food raw but burn a pan. It is unfathomable.”  
“He does rely on delivery a lot now, so we are eating at least,” Jimin explained.  
“Well, why don’t we start with a lesson on cooking breakfast,” Seokjin said, getting up from his chair and rolling his sleeves up. 

Hoseok got up excitedly as well, hurriedly walking towards the sink to wash his hands and get started. 

It was about 45 minutes later that Jungkook stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes and looking around in an attempt to figure out what delicious things he was smelling. His jaw dropped as he looked around and spotted Eggs Benedict, muffins, hash browns, sausages and bacon. 

“Are we celebrating some holiday I don’t know about?” Jungkook asked.  
“No, your dad is just teaching us how to cook!” Jimin exclaimed. “He is such an excellent teacher.” 

Yoongi stumbled in a few paces after Jungkook, also pausing and looking around in awe. 

“Am I still dreaming?” Yoongi asked.  
“Awe sweet, I appear in your dreams?” Hoseok asked with a wink.  
“Hobi?! What are you doing here?” Yoongi asked, only just realizing that the kitchen had two more occupants than normal.  
“You are going to my coffee child, aren’t you?” Seokjin asked with a laugh, shoving a muffin into Yoongi’s hand to hopefully wake the boy up a little. “Come on guys, let’s sit and have this delicious food together. 

Over at the Im/Park’s house Mark was trying not to gag at the smell of food that his dad was currently preparing. He was frying eggs for all of his brothers, while Mark nibbled a little at the piece of toast on the plate in front of him. His head was luckily throbbing less (though loud noises still weren’t entirely pleasant), but that didn’t mean that his stomach wasn’t still rolling. 

“Can we have milkshakes for breakfast?” Bambam asked, jumping up and down at the prospect of a milkshakes.  
“Absolutely not,” Jinyoung immediately replied, not even looking up from the paper he was reading from his spot at the counter next to Mark. “You may have a little chocolate milk if you ask nicely.”  
“Ohh yes please!” Bambam and Yugyeom screamed together, causing Jaebum to chuckle from where he was keeping an eye on the eggs.  
“Go ask your brothers if they want chocolate milk too,” Jaebum ordered.  
“Jackson hyung!” Yugyeom yelled out while walking towards the staircase, with Bambam following behind him yelling “Youngjae hyung!” 

Mark groaned, dropping his piece of toast back down on his place and clutching his head in his hands. Jinyoung folded up his paper and turned to look at his eldest son. 

“I promise you aren’t going to feel any better until you get some food and some sprite in your stomach,” Jinyoung said. “You’ve majorly dehydrated your body by both drinking alcohol and by throwing up. Your stomach is now empty as well and is begging for food.”  
“It is literally a challenge to swallow every bite of this,” Mark whined.  
“Well, you can think about this feeling the next time you think it’s a good idea to drink not only underage but to the point of being intoxicated,” Jinyoung said.  
“Trust me, I don’t ever want to drink again,” Mark replied.  
“Good,” Jaebum supplied from his spot in the kitchen. “But just in case the message is a little fuzzier than we would like, you are still going to sit through a lecture about it.”  
“Appa,” Mark whined, looking towards his appa in hopes that he would stop his dad.  
“Not gonna happen,” Jinyoung replied. “Eat your toast.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this literally took so long to update. I really hope to update on a much more regular schedule! Hope you enjoy and would love to hear your thoughts and comments.


	7. He Has a Powerpoint

Chapter 7 

Namjoon happily collapsed in the chair in his studio, pulling his phone out of his pocket. It had been a long day of meetings so far, and it was only 1 in the afternoon. He still had many more to go. He quickly dialed a number on his phone. 

“Hello?” Seokjin’s voice came through the speaker.  
“Hey, I just wanted to check on how things are going,” Namjoon said, picking up a rubber ball from his desk and starting to throw it up and down.   
“Things are going well, our kids get on like white on rice,” Seokjin said with a laugh at his small joke.   
“Good, I’m glad,” Namjoon replied. “I had a quick break so I just wanted to check in on you guys.”   
“How are things going with you?” Seokjin asked, hearing the stress in Namjoon’s voice.   
“Stressful,” Namjoon admitted with a sigh. “I love the label I work with on most days, but it can be frustrating. I don’t have the creative freedom that I entirely want. I’ve thought about leaving and starting my own label on the worst of days, but we all know that’s a pipe dream.”   
“You certainly have the popularity and the resources that you should be able to do that. Why is it such a pipe dream?” Seokjin inquired.  
“I couldn’t do it on my own,” Namjoon admitted. “I would need to find someone that would be willing to do it with me. But that’s a conversation for another time, I just wanted to make sure my kids weren’t causing too much mayhem.”   
“Your children?” Seokjin asked with a laugh. “Never. They are practically angels. Loud? Yes. Mayhem? Not so much.”  
“Yeah, I always say that Hoseokie speaks only in all caps,” Namjoon said.   
“More like all caps with bolding and underlining,” Seokjin added. “But it’s adorable. He’s just so full of life.”   
“That’s my Hoseokie for sure,” Namjoon said with a laugh. “Well I’m glad to hear that everything is going well. I’m still not sure when we are going to be done for the day. I hope that’s not a problem.”   
“It’s literally no problem at all, as I said they are angels and I’m enjoying having them here,” Seokjin replied sincerely. “They are more than welcome to crash for the night if you end up being too late to come pick them up.”   
“I’m sure they would enjoy that,” Namjoon admitted. “But for my sake, I hope I’m not THAT late. I best run along though, thanks again, hyung!”   
“No problem, Joonie,” Seokjin said. “See you later.” 

Seokjin hung up the phone and walked back to the living room where he had last seen the boys. The five had been intensely been playing a game on the wii when he last left. Seokjin walked back in to find Hoseok and Yoongi sitting on the couch watching a video on Seokjin’s iPad. They were laughing hysterically at whatever they were watching. On the other side of the room Jimin and Taehyung were sprawled out across the floor looking at a magazine together. They were deep in discussion over one of the celebrities that was featured—Seokjin had a suspicion that it was the girl that Taehyung had a massive celebrity crush on. Looking around, Seokjin noticed that only four boys were accounted for. 

“Guys, where is Jungkook?” Seokjin asked, peeking into the reading nook and seeing he wasn’t there either.   
“I think he ran off to his room,” Yoongi said with a shrug, not taking his attention away from the video in front of him for more than a couple seconds. 

Seokjin sighed and immediately headed up the steps to Taehyung and Jungkook’s room, hoping that he would find the boy there. Sure enough, he walked in to see Jungkook sprawled on his back across the bed hugging his stuffed bunny to his chest. 

“Hey bunny, what’s wrong?” Seokjin asked, perching himself on the edge of Jungkook’s bed.   
“I’m sad,” Jungkook admitted softly, playing with the bunny’s long pink fluffy ear in his despair.   
“I can see that, but can you tell your dad why?” Seokjin asked. “I can’t fix it if I don’t know what happened.”   
“Taehyungie hyung has Jiminie hyung to play with and Yoongi hyung has Hoseokie hyung to play with and I have no one,” Jungkook said with a huff. 

Seokjin supposed he should have seen this coming. Taehyung and Yoongi tried to do a fairly good job of not leaving their youngest sibling out, but it was bound to happen when both of them had close friends over that were exactly their age. Taehyung may still be in elementary school with Jungkook, but the difference of one grade did sometimes mean that his sons were into different things. 

“Oh baby, I’m sorry that you feel left out,” Seokjin said, opening his arms for his son to climb into. “I’m sure that wasn’t their intention, they just got super excited by whatever they were doing.”   
“Why can’t I have someone my age over?” Jungkook pouted. 

Seokjin sighed, not sure if he was ready to take on any more kids that day. Jimin and Hoseok were well behaved—that was for sure, but it still meant more people to look after. 5 kids was a lot—he applauded Jaebum and Jinyoung for being able to do it with what looked like relative ease. 

“I know you aren’t going to like my answer, Kook-ah, but we are going to have to wait and see when Namjoon ends up finishing for the day,” Seokjin replied. “I don’t feel comfortable looking after 6 kids on my own, but if he ends up finishing early enough that we can still have someone over then we can invite one of your friends, too.” 

Jungkook pouted at that, and then sighed with a very serious look on his face. 

“That won’t work then,” Jungkook said in all seriousness.   
“And why is that?” Seokjin asked.   
“Because I couldn’t pick between Yugyeom and Bambam,” Jungkook answered.

Seokjin sat there for a moment trying to figure out why those names sounded familiar to him. There was no way it was that small of a world—was there? 

“They wouldn’t happen to have three older brothers…would they?” Seokjin asked.   
“Yeah!” Jungkook replied, his face lighting up in amazement. “How did you know that?”   
“I know their parents,” Seokjin replied, shaking his head in disbelief. “Their brother Jackson is friends with your Yoongi hyung. How do you know them?”   
“Yugyeom is in my class at school and then I met Bambam when he joined us at recess,” Jungkook explained. 

Seokjin guessed it wasn’t that small of a world, it was maybe just that small of a school. It was still crazy how intertwined Seokjin, Namjoon, Jaebum, and Jinyoung’s families’ lives were becoming. 

“Well I will call Jaebum or Jinyoung after lunch and see if they might want to come over with their sons,” Seokjin said, causing Jungkook to give a small cheer of excitement. “Now let’s go start making lunch.” 

Over at the Im/Park household, Mark was certainly not cheering in excitement. It was now finally time to receive the scolding of a lifetime. He was sat on the couch in between Youngjae and Jackson. Bambam and Yugyeom were sat on the recliner together, while Jinyoung and Jaebum were sat on the love seat. Mark didn’t know why his dads insisted that everyone always be present for a lecture. They claimed that it was so the entire family could learn from that person’s mistakes, but it was still super embarrassing. 

“Why are we here again?” Yugyeom asked with a whine. “We just had a family meeting for Jackson hyung last week.”   
“It’s not for me this time,” Jackson replied. “It’s Mark hyung who is about to get grounded for life.”   
“Did you sneak out, too?” Bambam asked, looking in awe of his eldest brother. “Did you get to meet a rap icon?”   
“No, shut up idiot,” Mark replied, rolling his eyes at his brother’s stupidity.   
“Watch it,” Jinyoung snapped, his gaze hardening towards Mark. “Keep treating your brothers like this and you will be grounded for life.” 

Jackson shifted awkwardly on the couch, but refrained from saying anything.

“Now back on topic,” Jaebum cut in. “Care to explain to us how you went from ‘Hey dad, can I go to a movie with Steven?’ to walking through our front door plastered?” 

Mark gulped—yeah, this was not going to be a fun conversation. 

“Appa, what’s plastered?” Youngjae asked, looking over at Jinyoung in confusion.   
“It means that your brother came home really drunk last night,” Jinyoung helpfully replied, to which Youngjae nodded in understanding looking over at Mark in skepticism. Why would anyone want to get drunk? “Now answer your dad’s question, Mark Yi En.”  
“We were going to go to the movies, but then Jason and Alex joined us and we decided to go to Alex’s house instead,” Mark admitted. “We really were just going there to play games, but then Alex’s brother was there and he invited some of his friends over. They were all drinking and my friends decided that they wanted to try it too. I didn’t really want to go along with it, but I didn’t want to be left out or for them to think I’m not cool…”  
“So you drank so your friends would still like you?” Jaebum asked with a quirked eyebrow.   
“It sounds bad when you put it like that…” Mark admitted, looking down at his hands in sudden interest.   
“Yeah, it really does,” Jinyoung agreed. “We have gone over this with you time and time again that you do not have to do anything that you aren’t comfortable with in order to get someone to like you. If they ask that of you, they aren’t your friend.”   
“They didn’t ask it of me, I did it to myself,” Mark argued. “Don’t blame my friends.”   
“I’m not blaming anyone,” Jinyoung replied. “I’m just stating facts. Something I want every single one of my sons sitting here to understand inside and out. Do you understand?” 

Jinyoung looked around to his four other sons nodding genuinely at him. Before he could get any further into the conversation he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out, planning on ignoring the call but saw that Seokjin Hyung was written across the screen. He tilted the phone for Jaebum to see, who nodded and gestured for Jinyoung to go take the call. 

“How much did you have to drink last night?” Jaebum asked. “And I would like the truth, trust me I am well aware of what it would take to get you drunk so don’t try to claim it was one beer.”   
“Well it was originally only a beer, but then Alex’s brother’s friends started a drinking game and there was some vodka involved and something they referred to as jungle juice,” Mark admitted. “I know I was dumb to play along.”   
“Your first mistake was drinking as a very much underage 14 year old,” Jaebum said, crossing his arms over his chest with a sigh. “Your second mistake was mixing alcohol, that’s why you are feeling so terrible. Trust me, always stick to drinks that you know what’s in it. Jungle juice is just a recipe for disaster, one that you in no way shape or form are going to experience again until you are of age, am I clear?”   
“Yes, dad,” Mark muttered in reply. “Trust me, like I said I have no interest in drinking any time soon. This hangover is not worth it.”   
“Good,” Jaebum said. “I’m sure you won’t find the next three weeks that you are grounded worth it either.” 

That got Mark’s attention for sure, causing the boy to whip his head up in shock. 

“Three weeks? Are you kidding me?” Mark asked. “Appa, please stop him!” 

Jinyoung was walking back into the living room after having finished speaking with Seokjin on the phone. He took a moment to settle himself back on the couch before answering Mark’s plea. 

“I don’t know why you think I would go against your dad on this one,” Jinyoung said. “Your dad and I very much agree on the seriousness of your actions and the consequences they deserve.”   
“You’re supposed to be the reasonable one in this family!” Mark complained, causing his brothers to chuckle at their dad’s offended face.   
“Excuse me, I’m reasonable!” Jaebum protested.   
“We all voted that you are the one we don’t want to get in trouble with, dad,” Jackson piped in with a shrug.   
“Oh, and why is that?” Jaebum asked. “No way Jinyoung is the ‘fun parent.’”   
“I wouldn’t say ‘fun’?” Youngjae added in.   
“I’m plenty fun!” Jinyoung protested.   
“You’re fun, appa!” Yugyeom added in. “So much fun that you…”   
“You’re still not getting a milkshake for breakfast,” Jinyoung replied before Yugyeom could go where he knew the boy was heading.   
“I take that back, dad is the fun parent,” Yugyeom said with a pout.   
“I’m not letting you have a milkshake for breakfast either,” Jaebum said.   
“Both of our parents are tyrants,” Bambam said with a serious face and a dramatic sigh.   
“How do you even know the word ‘tyrant’?” Jackson asked in confusion.   
“I’m more impressed he used it properly,” Mark admitted softly—glad the conversation had shifted from being about him to being about his brothers, sometimes it was nice to have siblings with no attention spans.   
“We are not tyrants!” Jinyoung complained. “Although, contextually he did use it correctly, so props to you Bam. But back to the point here, Mark there is no changing your sentence. You are grounded for the next three weeks. You will be coming home straight after school. No cell phone, no computer, very limited TV privileges—meaning you may only watch when it is all of us together, no going out with friends, and you will be joining Jackson until the end of his grounding in extra chores.”   
“What about the 8th grade dance in two weeks?” Mark asked, looking up at his dads in pleading. “I’m going to be so lame if I don’t go, everyone is going to be there.”   
“As of right now, you will not be attending,” Jaebum replied, but continued when he saw Mark’s face fall. “Be on your best behavior and we will discuss things the night before, okay?”   
“Yes, dad,” Mark said with a sigh, he guessed that was as good as he could hope for. He was lucky they were even considering it. “Are we done here?”   
“Far from it,” Jaebum replied. “But this is all your brothers need to sit through. You and I are going to have a long conversation about the dangers of consuming too much alcohol, the significance of the drinking age, and why it’s not a good idea to break the law. You are going to meet me in my office in 15 minutes. I’ve got a powerpoint and several videos with your name on it.”   
“This is the reason no one wants to get in trouble with you,” Jackson piped in while Mark sat there in shock.   
“I’m perfectly okay with that,” Jaebum said with a shrug. 

—

Jungkook was playing with his lego set in the corner of the family room, trying to build the tallest tower that he could without it falling over. He had very quickly grown bored of the TV program his brothers and Hoseok and Jimin were watching. He didn’t find it as funny as they did. He was interrupted from his tower building by a ring on the doorbell. He looked up in confusion as his dad got up from the arm chair and went to go answer it. He heard mumbled voices and assumed that it was the post or something, but got a surprise a few moments later when Bambam and Yugyeom came running into the room. 

“You guys came!” Jungkook squealed in excitement, as both boys tackled him. It sent his tower crashing to the ground but he didn’t care, it would be more fun to build it again with them anyway. 

Seokjin came back into the room with Jinyoung trailing behind him, holding on to his son Youngjae’s hand. 

“I hope you don’t mind that I brought Youngjae with me as well,” Jinyoung said softly to Seokjin. “As I said Mark got into a lot of trouble last night and it wouldn’t have been fair to leave Youngjae at home with his two brothers who are both grounded.”   
“It’s no problem at all,” Seokjin said with a soft smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Youngjae-ah. Do you know Taehyung and Jimin? They are in the 6th grade with you.”   
“No, I don’t think I’ve met them before,” Youngjae said, practically hiding behind his appa in his shyness. “They aren’t in my class.”   
“Boys, why don’t you make Youngjae here feel welcome,” Seokjin said to where Jimin and Taehyung were sitting on the couch. 

Taehyung saw how shy Youngjae looked and immediately perked up. He wasn’t going to let anyone feel left out or nervous in his house! 

“Hi Youngjae! My name is Taehyung, and this is my best friend in the whole wide world Jiminie and you are now going to be our best friend, too!” Taehyung said in excitement, coming up and grabbing Youngjae by the hand. “Do you like to play Mario Kart?”   
“I love Mario Kart!” Youngjae shyly admitted.   
“Perfect!” Jimin added in, joining Taehyung in grabbing Youngjae’s other hand and pulling him to the play room so they could play together.  
“Your son doesn’t meet a stranger, does he?” Jinyoung asked with a laugh.   
“No, no he doesn’t,” Seokjin said, shaking his head in amusement. 

Seeing that all of the kids seemed to be content and occupied, Jinyoung and Seokjin headed into the kitchen to have a cup of coffee together. 

“He actually has a powerpoint?” Seokjin asked with a laugh after Jinyoung explained what was going on in his home.   
“He does,” Jinyoung admitted with a laugh. “Jaebum is ready for all situations. He knew one of our kids was bound to drink before they were legal and he wanted to be prepared. Although, admittedly he didn’t think it would be at 14. We thought we would have at least until high school parties.”   
“I’m hoping I don’t have to go through that with my kids,” Seokjin said with a sigh. “Yoongi has never been one to follow the crowd. He is too stubborn and sure of himself for that. Taehyung is my little social butterfly though, and then Jungkook will literally do whatever his brothers do.”   
“That’s why Jaebum and I insist on holding family meetings whenever our kids get in trouble,” Jinyoung explained. “The younger ones admire their hyungs so much that we try to stomp out any interest in repeating the same bad behaviors. It’s in the hopes that we only have to have that conversation once.”   
“Can I ask a question about your family dynamics?” Seokjin asked. “If it’s too personal you don’t have to answer.”   
“No need to be awkward, hyung,” Jinyoung said with a laugh. “You can ask me anything.”   
“Your kids call each other ‘hyung’?” Seokjin asked, trying to figure out how to phrase the rest of the question, but luckily Jinyoung knew where he was going with it.   
“Even though 3 of them aren’t Korean?” Jinyoung asked.   
“Well…yeah,” Seokjin said.   
“We raised them speaking Korean in the household,” Jinyoung explained. “All five of them are fluent in it. We don’t force them to use honorifics with each other, but it’s something they’ve picked up. Jackson is the one who drops the use of ‘hyung’ the most, but he and Mark are going through an interesting period right now and I don’t think he feels the same respect for his brother that he used to. Jaebum and I are trying to be as hands off about it as possible, knowing that this is something they need to work out for themselves. We can’t force them to be best friends, we just try to make sure that they are civil and respectful to each other.” 

Just then they heard loud laughter and then shouting in a language that Seokjin sure as hell didn’t understand. 

“I’m sorry…does your son speak Thai?!” Seokjin asked, only slightly recognizing the sound of the language.   
“Yeah, we made sure that our sons still kept some of their roots,” Jinyoung explained. “Bambam grew up going to Thai lessons every day and we actually have an old family friend from Thailand that we see often. He is happy to have someone to speak the language with so they see each other at least twice a week.”   
“So Jackson speaks Chinese?” Seokjin asked.   
“Cantonese and Mandarin,” Jinyoung said with a nod. “He loves to learn languages. He is working on French right now. Mark only speaks basic Mandarin, but he doesn’t like to use it as much as Jackson does.”  
“Your household sounds chaotic and overwhelming,” Seokjin admitted.   
“And you are wondering if you could do it?” Jinyoung asked with a knowing eyebrow raise.   
“What do you mean?” Seokjin asked, feigning confusion.   
“You can’t play dumb with me, hyung. There was a reason we broke up,” Jinyoung said with a laugh.   
“Yeah, you were still madly in love with Jaebum,” Seokjin replied.   
“And you were still madly in love with Namjoon,” Jinyoung added. “And now you can possibly have him again. It slightly scares you to think about combining your lives, though.”   
“I broke up with you because you can read me too easily,” Seokjin teased.   
“You two dated?” Yoongi asked, appearing in the kitchen with Hoseok trailing behind him.   
“Very briefly,” Jinyoung answered.   
“What’s up guys?” Seokjin asked.   
“We just wanted to get a snack,” Hoseok replied with his signature heart smile.   
“I cut up some fruit for you guys,” Seokjin said, pointing towards the counter. “Go share it with the others please.”

Hoseok and Yoongi nodded and obediently brought the tray into the living room, calling for their brothers. 

“So back to Namjoon,” Jinyoung said with a mischievous glint in his eyes.   
“You aren’t going to let this go, are you?” Seokjin asked with a sigh.   
“Not on your life, hyung,” Jinyoung replied with a smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone that is reading this story. Please let me know what you think and/or your theories about what might happen :P Also, quick note. So I have been writing his name at Im Jaebum and that's what the tag for the story is. However, it has recently been brought to attention that he actually spells his name Lim Jaebeom in romanization. Would it be bothersome if I switched it from here on out with plans to eventually edit all the beginning? Or should I just keep it Im Jaebum which is what the tags and a significant amount of fics refer to him as? In theory it's still pronounced the same, it's just minute spelling details. (Although I honestly prefer Im to Lim because there is no ㄹ in his name, but I know that is the common way it's romanized just like Park with the random 'R')


	8. Monday

Chapter 8 

Seokjin had just finished tucking the last of his children in bed, kissing Jungkook on the forehead goodnight and headed back to his bedroom. It has been a long and exhausting day, but ultimately very rewarding. He had really enjoyed seeing all of his kids playing and having fun with their friends. It has also been so nice to be able to have the conversation with Jinyoung. It had made him think about things in a very different way. Jinyoung was right. He wasn't in high school, or even college anymore. Relationships were different at his age. There wasn’t much point dawdling around and questioning ‘what if’. The only way that he would find out ‘what if’ is if he dove in. 

Seokjin picked up his phone on the nightstand and quickly dialed the number of the person he had been thinking about for majority of the evening. 

“Hello?” Namjoon asked, his voice sounded confused through the phone. “Hyung, is everything okay?”  
“Hey, Namjoon-ah,” Seokjin replied. “Everything is fine. I was just calling to ask you out on a date.” 

There was silence on the line for a few moments. 

“Seriously?” Namjoon asked, his voice cracking on the word. “I thought you said that we had to build up a friendship first?”  
“We all know you and I were never really friends,” Seokjin said with a laugh. “Even when we first met we were madly in love with each other, even though we wouldn’t admit it to ourselves and each other.”  
“Not that I’m not thrilled with this turn of events, but what brought it on?” Namjoon asked.  
“It was just talking with Jinyoung today that made me realize that I should be living with my heart open, not closed,” Seokjin admitted.  
“Well please remind me to thank him profusely the next time I see him,” Namjoon said, admittedly grinning from ear to ear. “So when do I get the honor of taking out the one and only Kim Seokjin?”  
“I’m free either Wednesday or Thursday evening,” Seokjin replied, glancing quickly at the planner on his nightstand.  
“I have a show on Wednesday, but Thursday works great for me,” Namjoon replied, trying to hold in a happy dance.  
“Awesome! Well I will see you then, Joonie,” Seokjin said. 

Namjoon hung up the phone feeling like he was on top of the world. Oh gosh, that only gave him four days to figure out where to take Seokjin and what in the hell was he going to wear? 

__ 

Jinyoung crawled into the bed next to his husband who was intently reading the book in his hands. Jinyoung curled up beside the man, placing his head on his chest—trying his hardest to not disturb him. It didn’t matter though, for Jaebeom immediately dog-eared the corner of the book and placed it down beside him in order to give his husband his attention. 

“So you didn’t really get a chance to say, but how was going to Seokjin hyung’s?” Jaebeom asked, running his hands through Jinyoung’s hair—the only time of day he was given free reign to do so because it wouldn’t matter if he messed it up.  
“It was nice,” Jinyoung replied, relaxing completely against Jaebeom’s side in his comfort. “I think I managed to talk some sense into Seokjin, who can often be too stubborn for his own good.”  
“About?” Jaebeom asked.  
“Namjoon,” Jinyoung answered. “He’s too worried about what would happen if they date and it turns into a disaster.” 

Jaebeom nodded in understanding. He could see why the man would be hesitant. It wasn’t just the two of them involved now, it was the 5 children as well. 

“Those two are so head over heels for each other that I’m sure things will work out in the end,” Jaebeom replied.  
“I think so, too,” Jinyoung said with a nod. “So how were things here with the delinquents?”  
“I would be surprised if Mark ever willingly touched a drop of alcohol again until he is of age,” Jaebeom said with a chuckle. “My 35 slide powerpoint seemed to drill the message in.”  
“The kids are right, I AM the reasonable one in this family,” Jinyoung pointed out.  
“You mean you didn’t marry me for my level-headedness?” Jaebeom asked with a gasp.  
“No, I married you for the sex,” Jinyoung replied nonchalantly. “The killer bod was a bonus.”  
“Well it’s a good thing I married you for your wit then,” Jaebeom replied, sticking his tongue out childishly at his husband. 

Jinyoung chuckled but just curled himself up tighter against his husband. He was very comfortable and he didn’t want to move out of the man’s arms any time soon. 

It didn’t take long before both men were sound asleep. It felt much too quick that their alarm clock sounded, waking them to the start of another week. It wasn’t but one minute after the alarm went off that Jaebeom’s cell phone started to ring as well. 

“Hello?” Jaebeom answered the phone and then his face grew serious very quickly. “Yeah, yeah. No problem. I will be there as soon as possible, pd-nim. See you then.” 

Jaebeom hung up the phone with a sigh. “What’s wrong at the office now?” Jinyoung asked, walking around the bed and tugging the covers up—it wasn’t the neatest making of a bed, but it would do.  
“Another crisis with the track we are doing for our new group,” Jaebeom explained, running his fingers through his hair in frustration. “I swear if I have to hear one more time that we need to edit the instrumentals I’m going to lose it. I think we are on something like the 34th demo. I understand that it is the title track, so therefore it needs to be perfect. But the band already has a perfect song for the title, but the man is a tyrant and claims it’s not the band’s ‘color’.”  
“What does that even mean?” Jinyoung asked, pausing in his task to give his husband a thoroughly confused look.  
“Exactly! It’s blasphemy!” Jaebeom complained. “But alas, I don’t own the label, so I best hurry so I can appease my owner.” 

Jinyoung watched his husband run off to the bathroom to get a quick shower before heading to work. He hated to see how frustrated Jaebeom got when it came to his boss sometimes. He knew that Jaebeom would love to explore other opportunities in the music industry, but felt very pressured to keep his job. Jinyoung was a stay at home dad, something that was necessary when the kids were younger. Even after all of the kids were in school, it was still much easier for Jinyoung to be a stay at home dad. There was still lots of work to do around the house, errands to run, things to clean, kids to get to appointments, and clubs, and sports teams. Still, Jinyoung couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty about putting Jaebeom in a position that he didn’t have the creative freedom he desired. Maybe it was time to at least go back to work part-time. He mentally added looking at jobs to his to-do list for the day. 

— 

Yoongi groaned, stretching out his stiff body as he sat down in the back of his English literature classroom. It was finally the last period of the day and he couldn’t wait to go home and nap. He had been too inspired in the middle of the night, staying up by flashlight to work on song lyrics. He couldn’t turn on his overhead light, for fear that his father would wake up and scold him for staying up way past his bedtime. 

“Good afternoon class,” their teacher, Mrs. Spencer said, closing the classroom door behind her as she walked into the room.  
“Good afternoon,” the class grumbled in reply, their enthusiasm severely lacking.  
“So today is the day that I’m giving out your assigned partner for your summer reading project,” Mrs. Spencer continued on, pretending not to notice the lack of excitement in the classroom. Remember, you guys will be making a presentation on the main themes of the book. I want a five page paper, as well as a visual aide. That can either be a poster, a powerpoint, or even a video if you want to get super creative.” 

The class grumbled their acknowledgment once more, most of the students admittedly having done almost none of the summer reading that was required. They all figured they could pick up the Spark Notes version of it and pretend their way through the assignment. Yoongi had actually read all three books that were assigned. He found literature as a good way to get inspiration for his lyrics. It was after watching an interview with Rap Monster where he talked about his inspiration coming through novels, that Yoongi decided to pick up some of the same books. He wasn’t quite on the philosophical reading level that Rap Monster was, but there were works that struck his fancy. Ever since, he had become quite the avid reader. 

“Now for your assigned partners,” Mrs. Spencer said, really earning a groan from the class this time—seriously, she wouldn’t let them choose their own partner? 

Mrs. Spencer worked her way through the list, making some people in the class very happy and making others sigh in annoyance. The last listing on the sheet was called: 

“And lastly, Yoongi Kim and Mark Tuan,” Mrs. Spencer called out. “Now, if you would move your seats to sit next to your partner then you guys can discuss which of the three books you would like to do the project on. Once you have decided come write your names on the sheet at the front. There are only so many spots for each book, so you might want to be hasty about your decision making.” 

Yoongi gathered his things and made his way over to where Mark was sitting with an empty desk beside him. 

“Hey, do you have any preference?” Yoongi asked, plopping his books down on the desk.  
“None at all, you choose,” Mark said with a shrug—he hadn’t actually read a single one of the books. 

Yoongi rolled his eyes, somehow unsurprised by the answer. He admittedly didn’t know much about Mark, but from the way he allowed his little brother to be treated Yoongi wasn’t a fan. 

Yoongi walked up to the front of the classroom and wrote down their names for a spot on ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’. He was the first one in the class to write their names down, and then promptly made his way back to his desk. 

“We have ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, I hope that’s okay,” Yoongi said, sitting down and opening his notebook.  
“Whatever,” Mark said with a shrug once more.  
“Now I think a poster is actually going to be the easiest and best option for our visual aide,” Yoongi suggested. “I think we could honestly knock that all out in one night.”  
“We have to work outside school hours?” Mark asked, not looking up from where he was doodling on the outside of his notebook.  
“Yeah, is that going to be a problem?” Yoongi asked. “I know you are grounded, but I’m assuming your dads will make an exception for school work.” 

Mark’s head snapped up at that, looking around frantically to see if anyone was eavesdropping on their conversation. Everyone seemed to be lost in their own world, though. 

“How do you even know that?” Mark hissed out in question, keeping his voice as low as possible.  
“Know what?” Yoongi asked.  
“That I’m grounded?” Mark asked and then lowered his voice even more. “Or about my parents?”  
“What? Are you ashamed of your family or something?” Yoongi asked narrowing his eyes at Mark in accusation.  
“I’m not ashamed of them, it’s just my own private business,” Mark reasoned. “But you didn’t answer my question.”  
“I’m literally close friends with your brother Jackson,” Yoongi replied in disbelief. “I saw your brothers Yugyeom, Bambam, and Youngjae at my house yesterday. Do you really know that little about who your brother hangs out with? I had to confront your dumb ass friends when they were being mean to Hoseok, Jackson and I.”  
“Ohh, I thought you looked familiar,” Mark said, coming to the realization as to who he had just been partnered with. “And my friends aren’t dumb asses.”  
“They make fun of your younger brother, I think that qualifies them for the title,” Yoongi argued.  
“They are just joking around,” Mark said with a shrug. “And it’s not as if they even know he is my brother.”  
“You are ashamed of your family, I don’t care what you try to claim,” Yoongi argued. 

Before Mark could reply, Mrs. Spencer jumped back into the lesson saying she hoped all the pairs were able to brainstorm ideas and figure out a time and place to meet. The project was due on the following Monday. 

Finally after what felt like ages for Mark, the bell rang signaling the end of the school day. If he hurried he could get like 5 minutes to hang out with his friends before having to head home. His appa had said come home straight after school, but surely he would have the tiniest bit of wiggle room there. 

“Ask your parents if you can meet tomorrow after school to work on our project,” Yoongi said while Mark started to pack up his books. “You are more than welcome to come over mine, or we can meet at the library, or even at your place if you aren’t allowed out.” 

Mark nodded. 

“Okay, I will let you know tomorrow,” Mark said, swinging his backpack onto his back and ready to make a break for the door.  
“Mark Tuan, I would like to have a quick word with you before you head out,” Mrs. Spencer said, derailing Mark’s plan of seeing his friends today. 

Mark sighed and held back as all of his classmates filed out of the room. Mrs. Spencer gestured for Mark to take a seat in the front row of the classroom. 

“It has come to my attention that you have missed more than half of the homework assignments over the last two weeks, the first two weeks of school I would like to remind,” Mrs. Spencer said, pulling his work out of a folder from her desk. “And the assignments that you did turn in were very half-heartedly completed.”  
“I’m sorry, there has been a lot going on and I’ve been stressed out,” Mark lied, trying to think of a decent enough excuse that wouldn’t get too many questions asked in response.  
“Be that as it may, I would like you to show these assignments to your parents and get them to sign the note that I’m attaching to it,” Mrs. Spencer said, handing the folder over to Mark. “I expect it back to me tomorrow afternoon.” 

Mark gulped but nodded. This was a surefire way to get him even more grounded. His dads took grades seriously, especially since they knew it wasn’t that he didn’t understand the material but that he wasn’t putting in the effort. There was no way he was going to be able to show this to his dad or his appa. He would have to sign it himself and lie. If he started to put more effort in from here on out, surely they would never find out. 

“Based on last year’s transcripts I know that you are a very bright student, Mr. Tuan,” Mrs. Spencer continued. “I hope that this is just a fluke and you will be performing to your full potential once more.”  
“Yes ma’am,” Mark replied with a nod.  
“You’re dismissed,” Mrs. Spencer said, gesturing towards the door and turning back to her own desk. 

Mark quickly headed out the door, shoving the folder into his backpack. He quickly headed to his locker, getting his items for homework that night and heading out the door. He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised to walk out to the lawn of the school and see his appa standing there with his brother, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t annoyed. 

“You don’t trust me to walk home on my own?” Mark accused.  
“Cut the attitude,” Jinyoung said crossing his arms and giving his son an unimpressed look. “We are meeting your dad for an early dinner before he has to catch a train tonight. He’s going to be gone until tomorrow night for a meeting.” 

Mark nodded in reply, looking down at the ground and muttering out an apology. 

“By the way, I have to do a project with Yoongi that is due next Monday,” Mark said. “Can I meet with him after school tomorrow? Either at his place of the library?”  
“Yeah, Seokjin hyung has a recording tomorrow night so Namjoon is actually going to be over at Seokjin’s house with his two sons. I’ll ask him if it’s okay to have an extra person,” Jinyoung said, turning and waving at his three youngest children to get their attention. 

Bambam, Yugyeom and Youngjae all hurriedly made their way over to their appa, immediately spouting off all of the interesting things that had happened throughout their day. 

— 

Namjoon did a double take as he walked past the kitchen. He was on his way to look at the take out menus to decide what to order for dinner. His double take was due to the fact that his eldest son was in front of the stove, cooking up something that smelled absolutely heavenly. Namjoon wasn’t even aware that they had all of these ingredients in this house that would make something smell this amazing. 

“Hoseokie, what’s going on?” Namjoon asked, his eyes probably appearing twice their size in his wonder.  
“Seokjin hyung showed me how to order these ingredients online yesterday,” Hoseok explained, stirring the sauce while he spoke. “He taught me this recipe yesterday and I wanted to try it out.”  
“That’s so sweet of you to cook dinner, Seok-ah,” Namjoon said ruffling his hair and turning toward the table where Jimin was sat doing his homework. “And how is my Jiminie doing today?”  
“We have a spelling test tomorrow and I want to ace it,” Jimin said, hardly looking up from his workbook. “If at least 10 people in the class get 100 on the test, then Miss Hooper said that we can watch a movie on Friday!”  
“Do you need some help going over the words?” Namjoon asked.  
“Can we do it in a little bit? I just want to finish up my math homework,” Jimin said, writing down the answer to one of the problems.  
“Sure thing,” Namjoon said with a smile—he seriously lucked out that both of his kids seemed to genuinely enjoy school.  
“So dad,” Hoseok said while pouring the pasta through the strainer. “Did you know that Uncle Seokjin and Uncle Jinyoung used to date?” 

Namjoon did his second double take of the day at that one. 

“I did actually, but how do YOU know that?” Namjoon asked.  
“Yoongi hyung and I may or may not have slightly overheard their conversation?” Hoseok asked, trying to give a very feigned innocent look to his dad.  
“You were eavesdropping?” Namjoon asked, quirking a brow in question.  
“They were having the conversation in the kitchen while we were in the next room,” Hoseok said with a shrug. “It was hard to NOT overhear?”  
“You still know you shouldn’t be listening into adult conversations,” Namjoon reminded.  
“I know, I know,” Hoseok replied with a sigh. “So that means you don’t want to hear what Uncle Seokjin said about you and how Uncle Jinyoung convinced him to ask you out?” 

Namjoon looked very torn for a minute. 

“Are you okay with Jin hyung and I going out?” Namjoon asked. “It wouldn’t be anything super serious at first, just us dating and testing things out. I won’t do it then, if it’s weird for you.” 

Both Jimin and Hoseok looked at each other for a moment, before turning towards their dad and laughing.

“We haven’t seen you this happy in ages, dad,” Jimin explained. “Why would we be upset that you are going on a date with him?”  
“Besides, the worst thing that would happen is that you get serious and Jimin and I now get to live with our best friends,” Hoseok argued. 

Namjoon didn’t want to point out that his scenario was far from the worst thing that could happen—like them having another falling out and not talking for like 14 years. But Namjoon was going to focus on the positive. He truly had the best kids in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I really am making Mark quite the little troublemaker aren't I? :P Hopefully you guys don't hate him too much. :) And ooh, how do we think the NamJin date is going to go???


	9. Passion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long to be updated. Things have been absolutely crazy over the last couple weeks. I took a trip to Tokyo for a couple days with my friends. It was a lot of fun and we got to go to both Tokyo Disney parks. That trip was certainly the highlight. Then on the downside, I was supposed to be flying to Thailand on the 14th to see Got7. I was originally supposed to be flying through China and was super stressed about it. Finally found out that my airline was offering free cancellation for flights through China. Cancelled that. Booked a direct flight to Bangkok. It was double the cost, but I thought it was worth it. Luckily less than 24 hours after booking that I got the news that the concert had been postponed so I made the window for free cancellation on the direct flight. So I will be getting all my money back for the flights, fortunately! Still bummed about the concert being postponed, but completely understand why they did it. Hopefully things will calm down soon. I live in Seoul so a lot of people are on pretty high alert about the situation, so it's pretty tense right now. On a happier note, I'm super excited for the release of EGO (in what should be about 30 minutes), my upcoming trip back home to the US for a bit in about two weeks, and the upcoming release of Map of the Soul: 7. Trying to put everything in perspective and keep a positive attitude. Hope you are all happy and healthy as well :)

Chapter 9 

Mark knew that his appa had said that Namjoon would be picking him up that day, along with his two sons, and then Seokjin’s three sons. Somewhere in his mind he should have realized that meant that Rap Monster was the one picking them up. He knew the whole story about his brother sneaking out that night, lying to his friends to get them to sneak into a concert and then getting to meet the man himself—who ended up being one of his friends’ dad. However, he really hadn’t put too much thought into it, other than begrudging the fact that they were having to work on the project outside of school. He was admittedly relieved that he was able to get out of the house, instead of sitting in boredom without his phone, game consuls, tv or laptop. Seriously, his dads were being ridiculous. That didn’t mean he wanted to do work though. He just wanted to be hanging out with his friends. 

Back to Rap Monster, though. The man was waiting for them on the bench outside of the school. He had on dark aviator sunglasses and was paging through a novel when Mark and Yoongi walked up, clearly the first ones of their group to get out of school. 

“What are you reading Uncle Namjoon?” Yoongi asked, planning to take a mental note of it and pick up a copy as soon as possible.   
“Jung’s Map of the Soul,” Namjoon replied, dog-earring the page he was on, and giving his attention to the two boys in front of him. “Hi, you must be Mark. We haven’t been formally introduced yet, but I’ve heard so much about you from your dad. I’m Namjoon.”   
“My dad really is close friends with Rap Monster?” Mark blurted out, and then winced immediately feeling his skin heat up and his cheeks turning a light shade of pink. “Er—I mean, he’s so lame usually…” 

Namjoon just chuckled. 

“Your dad is actually an incredible producer, and an even better song writer,” Namjoon said, standing up from the bench and brushing off his jeans. “But I get it. Hoseok and Jimin still call me lame a lot of the time.”   
“You literally break everything you touch, dad,” Hoseok said, appearing behind the group.   
“That’s a bit of an exaggeration,” Namjoon said rolling his eyes. “But I’ll take it.” 

They heard the bell from the elementary school ringing behind them, signaling that they would have the rest of their group shortly. 

“So you guys are working on an English project?” Namjoon asked, looking between Mark and Yoongi.   
“Yeah, we have to write a short paper and make a visual aide on ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’,” Yoongi answered. “It was my favorite of our summer reading books.”   
“It’s been awhile since I’ve read it, but I do remember it being an impactful book,” Namjoon said. “Let me know if you need me to look at or review anything later.”   
“Thanks!” Yoongi said, practically jumping up and down in his excitement. 

Taehyung and Jimin were the next two to appear, chatting away about anything and everything. They very briefly stopped chatting to say hello to Namjoon, before once more getting lost in their own world. Jungkook appeared shortly after, chatting away with Yugyeom who gave him a hug before running off to find Youngjae, Bambam and Jackson so they could walk home from school together. 

Now that all of them were together, they were able to start walking toward Seokjin’s house which was only a couple blocks from the school. Namjoon had originally insisted that the three boys could come to his, but Seokjin had rejected it telling Namjoon that he had precooked meals ready in the fridge for all of them and that even Namjoon couldn’t mess up making them. Namjoon had reluctantly agreed. 

Namjoon got all of the kids to Seokjin’s home safe and sound, handing them all the snacks that Seokjin had left waiting for them. Yoongi and Mark headed to the lounge in the basement to work on their project, while Taehyung, Jimin, and Jungkook all headed to the rec-room on the second floor to work on their own homework. Namjoon had promised them that if they finished their homework, they would be able to play video games before dinner. 

Hoseok followed his dad into the kitchen and sat at one of the stools at the counter to eat his snack. 

“Hey buddy, do you have any homework?” Namjoon asked, ruffling his eldest son’s hair and sitting down next to him.   
“No, I actually was able to finish it all during lunch and study hall period,” Hoseok replied, taking a bite out of his apple slice. “I wanted to ask you about something.”   
“What’s that?” Namjoon asked, turning on the stool so his whole body was facing his son.   
“I saw a flyer today for dance team auditions tomorrow after school,” Hoseok said. “It said that you didn’t have to have any dance experience, that it was for all different levels.”   
“Is Yoongi going to try out as well?” Namjoon asked. 

Hoseok actually laughed out loud at that. 

“He said he is perfectly fine making music, rather than putting in a lot more physical effort and dancing to it,” Hoseok answered.   
“A man after my own heart,” Namjoon replied with a laugh. “But I think that’s great that you want to try out dance. Just let me know what time I need to pick you up from school tomorrow.”   
“Well Jackson is actually going to try out as well—or at least he is if his parents let him try out even though he is grounded,” Hoseok explained. “So would you be able to drop him off at home as well?”   
“Sure thing, I will coordinate that with one of his dads,” Namjoon said, stealing one of the apple slices from Hoseok’s bowl and plopping it in his own mouth. 

Namjoon sat there and chewed for a moment, thinking about how he wanted to phrase his next question to his son. 

“I know you said that you were okay with Seokjin hyung and I dating, but I just want to double check again if there is anything we need to talk about,” Namjoon said softly, placing his hand on his son’s shoulder. “It is going to be a change in dynamics if things do get very serious with us.” 

Hoseok sat there for a moment without replying. Thinking about how he wanted to say this without hurting his dad’s feelings. 

“I’m jealous of what Jackson has sometimes, dad,” Hoseok admits. “He seems to love coming from a big family, always having his brothers around and excitement always happening in his house. He also loves his dads more than anything in the world. I think Uncle Seokjin would be great to have in this family, plus I would get to hang out with Yoongi Hyung even more…although, he might try to spend all of his time fawning over you.” 

Namjoon couldn’t help the grin that broke out on his face. 

“Well I’m glad I already have your blessing for marriage, but right now it is only just one date,” Namjoon replied pulling his son into a big hug. “But it means a lot to me that you are this positive about it. I will talk to Jiminie once more as well, though.” “You two getting serious just means that Jimin gets to see more of Taehyung,” Hoseok said with a shrug. “He would be mad at you if you decided NOT to date Uncle Seokjin.” 

Namjoon couldn’t help but nod in agreement—those two were literally two peas in a pod. 

Over at the Im/Park household, Jinyoung and Jackson were sat in the living room folding laundry together. With a household of 7 people, the laundry seemed to be never ending no matter how frequently he did it. 

“So how was school today?” Jinyoung asked, pulling one of his husband’s shirts out of the basket to fold.   
“It was good,” Jackson replied. “I got an A on my math test and a B on my Science test. The science teacher is letting me do extra credit to pull my grade up to an A, because I read the directions to one of the sections wrong. I would have gotten an A otherwise.”   
“That’s good that he’s letting you change it,” Jinyoung said, looking proudly over at his second oldest. “I’m very proud of your good grades in school Seunie.”   
“Thanks appa,” Jackson said with a massive grin. “So proud you will let me audition for the dance team tomorrow even though I’m grounded?” 

Jinyoung put down the pants he was currently folding to give all of his attention to Jackson. 

“The dance team?” Jinyoung inquired.   
“Yeah, there were flyers around the school for it and it sounded like fun. Hoseok is going to audition as well,” Jackson replied. “It said that you don’t need any experience, so I really wanted to try it out. I know I’m grounded but I could do…”   
“Jackson,” Jinyoung said, cutting him off. “Your dad and I aren’t going to stop you for taking part in school activities because you are grounded.”   
“Oh…I figured that since Mark wasn’t necessarily going to be allowed to go to his 8th grade dance…” Jackson said, trailing off with a shrug.   
“That’s a very different circumstance,” Jinyoung replied. “His dance is a social event that isn’t going to make much difference a couple years down the road. Something like a school club could ignite an interest in something that could turn into a passion and even a career.”   
“You really think I could be THAT good at dance?” Jackson asked.   
“I think you need to give yourself more credit,” Jinyoung replied, standing up and going to sit down next to his son. “You are very good at whatever you put your mind to, your good grades being proof of that.” 

Jackson blushed at the compliment and pulled his dad into a big hug. 

“Thanks dad, you’re the best,” Jackson exclaimed. 

On the other side of town Mark and Yoongi were hard at work on their project. Working mostly in silence, as most conversation seemed to fizzle out. They were luckily almost finished with the entire project. 

“Look, I’m sensing you don’t like me very much,” Mark said after Yoongi very roughly turned a page in the book.   
“And what gave you that idea?” Yoongi asked sarcastically.   
“We don’t have to be friends,” Mark began.   
“Which we are clearly not, because I would NEVER associate myself with your friends,” Yoongi said, jotting a couple more notes down on a piece of paper in front of him.   
“Stop making my friends out to be the devil or something,” Mark complained. “You don’t even know them.”   
“You’re right,” Yoongi said with a dramatic sigh. “When the only words they’ve ever actually said to me have been insults to not only myself, but to my two friends—one of which is your very own brother, what’s not to like about them?”   
“I told you, they just have a different sense of humor,” Mark tried to explain. “They don’t actually mean harm.”   
“The fact that you actually believe that is astounding,” Yoongi replied.   
“What difference does it make to you?” Mark asked. “It’s my life, he’s my brother. You don’t know what it’s like to have 4 younger brothers.”   
“I know my fair share about younger brothers, I think having 2 of them makes me knowledgeable enough,” Yoongi shot back. “I know that it is my duty as their hyung to guide them, to watch over them, and to do my best damn job to make sure that they don’t get hurt. The fact that it’s your own friends hurting your little brother and you as a hyung are doing nothing to stop that is mind-boggling to me.” 

Mark sat there in silence, not knowing how to reply to that. Yoongi just didn’t understand—they weren’t physically hurting the boy. What were a couple of misplaced words here or there, if Mark was able to uphold his own reputation. Yoongi didn’t know what his 7th grade year was like. It was hell. They taunted the crap out of him until they realized that he wasn’t the stereotype of the weak, bookish Asian. That he could in fact beat the crap out of them. He wasn’t going to ruin all the progress he made. Besides, Jackson has his group of friends who adore him. Mark had no one back in 7th grade, and he would have no one again if his friends turned on him. Mark wasn’t going to go back to being a nobody. 

“How are things going down here?” Namjoon asked, walking in and plopping down on the couch on the other side of the coffee table.   
“We are actually now all finished,” Yoongi replied, gesturing to their visual aide and the paper that was sitting on the table in front of them. “It was such a good book that it wasn’t hard at all to do the project.”   
“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Namjoon said, genuinely happy to see someone Yoongi’s age with a deep appreciation for literature. “I’m impressed you were able to finish it so quickly.”   
“Yeah, I guess I should be going then,” Mark said, moving to stand up and pack his bags.  
“No need, you are staying for dinner,” Namjoon explained. “You dad is going to be joining us for dinner on his way home from the train station.” 

Mark held back a groan. Of course he wasn’t going to be allowed to walk himself home. God, his parents took grounding way too seriously. 

“Yoongi, if you want the boys are playing video games in the living room upstairs until dinner,” Namjoon said. “Mark and I will get to know each other in the kitchen while you boys play.” 

Yoongi nodded and hurried upstairs to the kitchen to join his brothers. He hoped they were playing Mario Kart. Mark silently followed behind Namjoon up the stairs and into the kitchen, sitting down at the table with the older—and admittedly slightly intimidating—man. 

“My dad told you I’m not allowed to play video games, didn’t he?” Mark asked with a sigh, figuring there was no point beating around the bush.   
“I’m aware of your grounding and it’s stipulations, yes,” Namjoon admitted with a shrug.   
“It’s so unfair,” Mark complained. “3 weeks just because I made a dumb mistake. Surely someone as awesome as Rap Monster can see my parents are being ridiculous.”  
“If Hoseok or Jimin lied to me about where they were going, snuck in after curfew and were super drunk way under the drinking age, they would be lucky to get only 3 weeks,” Namjoon replied, his voice even and his face giving nothing away.   
“But you’re Rap Monster, you’re so cool, you understand us in a way our parents don’t,” Mark explained.  
“And I’m very glad you feel that way,” Namjoon said with a gentle smile. “But I’m a father first before I’m anything else.” 

Mark couldn’t argue that. He guessed he was coming to see the truth to the saying ‘Never meet your idols.’ They never do turn out the way you imagined.

“But let’s not waste time discussing your grounding any more,” Namjoon continued. “It’s something neither one of us can change. I want to get to know you: Mark Tuan. I’ve heard a lot about you from your dad. He says you are incredible at martial arts tricking and that you can do insane backflips and stuff.”   
“Yeah,” Mark answered, blushing a little at the praise. “I started it when I was younger and it just happened to be something I’m naturally good at. I’m thinking about quitting though. I kind of want to join the soccer team with my friends instead. I don’t know if they are going to let me though, because they know I’m super good at martial arts and they will think that I’m ‘giving it up’.”   
“I think your dads know enough to allow you to pursue whatever you are passionate about,” Namjoon replied. “Your dad wouldn’t be the amazing producer and songwriter that he is today if it wasn’t something he was passionate about.”   
“Who has time to worry about passion as a 14 year old?” Mark asked. “I’m just worried about having fun and hanging out with my friends.”   
“Creating close connections with people can be a passion-boost,” Namjoon explained. “Do your friends get you in a way that nobody else does? Do they want what’s best for you? Cheer you up? Encourage you to be a better you?” 

Mark was stumped by the questions. Never having pondered any of those things about his friends. Weren’t friends just there so you weren’t lonely? So that you weren’t the loser who sat alone at the cafeteria table? Who had food thrown at him? His friends were…strategic. They were a lot of fun, sure. But were they any of the things that Namjoon had just asked him. 

Mark was saved from answering by the door bell ringing. Namjoon got up from the table to go answer it and returned a few moments later with Jaebeom. 

“Hey Mark, how was school today?” Jaebeom asked his son.   
“It’s was fine, nothing out of the ordinary,” Mark replied, trying not to think about the forged signatures that he had handed back to his English Literature teacher or the two failed tests that he was supposed to get signed that were sitting in his backpack. One was from his math class and the other was from his science class. He really needed to start studying or this was quickly going to kick him in the butt. He had too much to think about with Namjoon’s words now running through his head as well.

Passion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter. As I'm sure some of you have been waiting for, you've got a bit of a glimpse into Mark's mind. He isn't just straight up an ass...there is a reason for his actions and his insecurity. Poor boy is just digging himself deeper and deeper with school though... How great of a hyung is Yoongi though!?! That boy would do anything for his brothers and his friends. #LoyalYoongi
> 
> Also, the promised Namjin date will be in the next chapter!


	10. Second First Date

Chapter 10 

Namjoon fumbled with the keys for about the third time since walking out Seokjin’s front door, on his way to the car. Namjoon felt a hand over his, grabbing the keys out of his grasp.

“How about I drive?” Seokjin suggested with a chuckle. 

Namjoon blushed a little, but wisely nodded. 

“I never saw you this nervous when we were dating before,” Seokjin pointed out, while opening the door to the car and getting in.   
“I must have just been able to hide it better when I was younger,” Namjoon replied.   
“Well it’s admittedly quite adorable,” Seokjin chuckled, turning the keys in the ignition and starting the car.   
“There is something odd about saying that a fully grown man with two kids is adorable,” Namjoon pointed out, while typing the address of their dinner location into the GPS for Seokjin. “But I’ll take it.” 

Their date was taking place at a new Italian restaurant that had opened up two towns over. It was very highly recommended by one of the guys at Namjoon’s studio who had taken his wife there on opening weekend. 

The two were seated fairly quickly when they arrived, since Namjoon had called ahead and booked reservations for them. 

“So how have you been?” Namjoon asked once they were seated and had their glasses of wine.  
“I’ve been good. Yoongi seems to be really liking school this year, showing a lot of interest in his literature course. Taehyung is the happiest kid on the planet who loves to talk about his best friend Jiminie 24/7. Then Jungkook is coming out of his shy bubble a lot because of his new friends Yugyeom and Bambam. What about you?”   
“Well Hoseok is on the dance team now, something he has dreamed of doing all through elementary school but they didn’t have one. And Jimin is so happy with his best friend Taehyung,” Namjoon explained and then paused for a moment before chuckling. “It’s funny that you ask how we are doing but our responses are all about our children.”   
“Well they really are one of my favorite parts about my life,” Seokjin said with a shrug. “But it’s nice to actually be on a date where this isn’t a turn off to talk about within the first five minutes.”   
“That’s very true,” Namjoon admitted with a laugh, thinking back to a couple terrible past dates he had been on when the mention of his children literally left his dates running for the hills. “So, let’s try to talk about ourselves then. How are things going with your job?”   
“Things have been good,” Seokjin answered. “I just finished up my most recent cookbook and it has been sent to our editors. It should be coming out this coming spring. I will be going on a press tour then, but right now I have some upcoming time off. All the episodes have been filmed until January. My company always tries to fit my schedules so that I have decent amount of time that I can spend with my boys. In the height of filming or press tours it can be hard, so they give me the time after it off to spend with them.” 

Namjoon nodded in understanding. 

“My company often has to do the same,” Namjoon admitted. “They may not like it, but there are some tours that I’ve had to push off until more reasonable times for my kids. I try to get them to keep tours and shows that aren’t in the area to weekends and summer holidays for my kids.”   
“We somehow always do end up coming back to our kids, don’t we?” Seokjin pointed out with a chuckle.   
“They are the literal best thing that ever happened to me,” Namjoon admitted, and then sighed. “Although, it’s very bittersweet to think about how I came to be their father. I’m glad that we have each other, though. I needed them in my time of loss of my brother, and they needed me in their time of loss of their parents.” 

Seokjin reached out and squeezed Namjoon’s hand. 

“Do you know, for a while there I thought it would be all so much easier if I could just hate you. If I could demonize you and say that I was better off without you?” Seokjin said. “But I never could, because even on my worst days I knew that you were truly one of the kindest, sweetest, and most sincere people on this planet. Your brother and sister-in-law couldn’t have left their kids in better hands. Jimin and Hoseok are so lucky to have you as their father.”   
“Thank you for that,” Namjoon said with a soft smile. “I shouldn’t need to, but sometimes I really do need to hear things like that. I doubt my parenting all the time. Like what if I’m messing them up. What if they aren’t getting what they need because their parents are gone and I’m the only one who was available to step in. I couldn’t even cook for them for heaven’s sake.”   
“We’ve all got our flaws, Joonie,” Seokjin reminded. “There are days that even I question if I did the right thing for my kids. Would they have been better off with someone who had a less hectic job? Would they be better off with two parents and not just the one that they got stuck with? But then I sit back and I look at my kids and I think of how proud I am of them. They are truly amazing people. I clearly didn’t do a half-bad job if they turned out the way that they did. Looking at Jimin and at Hoseok, I would say you’ve done an amazing job with them.”   
“Thanks, hyung,” Namjoon replied with a grin from ear to ear. “I’ve missed your pep talks.”   
“I distinctly remember you telling me otherwise,” Seokjin said with a raised eyebrow.   
“We said a lot of things we didn’t mean that night, hyung,” Namjoon pointed out. “That was the problem, we knew how to push each other’s buttons.”   
“And we were both too stubborn to admit that we had done or said anything wrong,” Seokjin added.   
“I would have never taken that job in LA if I knew it meant I was going to lose you,” Namjoon said softly.   
“We can’t change the past, Joonie,” Seokjin said, taking a swig of his wine.   
“No, but I’m going to do my best to change the future,” Namjoon said with sheer determination. 

Seokjin looked across the table right into Namjoon’s eyes. He could see the determination and love there, and couldn’t help but smile and nod—believing Namjoon’s words that it would be different this time. 

— 

Bambam was so happy that it was Friday. That meant that there were two days that he would get to hang out with Yugyeom. Yes, he saw Yugyeom every day at home. But that was the problem, it was just at home. Yugyeom got to come to school and go hang out with Jungkook in his class all day long. Bambam only got to see them for 40 minutes at recess time, since they were split into different classes to eat lunch. It wasn’t that Bambam didn’t have any other friends. He liked to think of himself as a fairly friendly person. In fact, Jungkook was turning out to be a phenomenal friend to Bambam as well as Yugyeom. The problem was that Bambam’s class had Michael, and Michael seemed hell bent on making sure that Bambam was unhappy. 

“Who the hell names their kid Bambam,” Michael started on his torment again as the class was working on their art projects. 

Bambam was sat at a table with Michael, a boy named Taylor and two girls in the art classroom. It was at the back of the room, so the art teacher wasn’t hearing any of the conversation that was happening. 

“Right, it’s such a dumb name,” Michael’s friend Taylor added. “Isn’t it from some cartoon?”   
“I told you my full name isn’t even Bambam,” Bambam muttered out, trying to not let the words get to him.   
“Yeah, but don’t you have some weird real name too?” One of the girls Stephanie piped in.   
“It’s not weird, it’s just Thai,” Bambam answered, trying to cut in a straight line despite the embarrassment and anger flooding through his body.   
“What is Thai?” Another girl Amy asked, though she didn’t sound malicious, just curious.   
“It’s from the country Thailand, that’s where I was born,” Bambam explained.   
“You were born in another country?” Stephanie asked, sounding completely shocked. “And then your parents moved here?”   
“No, I was adopted,” Bambam answered. “That’s why my brothers don’t have the same last names as me.”   
“Oh yeah! Your brother has a dumb name you can’t pronounce either,” Michael said laughing. “Wait, brothers? You have more?”  
“Yeah, I have 4,” Bambam said with a shrug. “And his name isn’t dumb, it’s just Korean.”   
“So all of you are from different countries?” Stephanie asked.   
“No, not all of us,” Bambam explained, not sure why he was even answering their questions. “Yugyeom and Youngjae hyung are both Korean, Mark hyung is from the US and Jackson hyung is from Hong Kong.”   
“Hyung?” Taylor asked with a snicker, butchering the word.   
“It’s a Korean thing, my whole family speaks it,” Bambam said with a sigh. “Just forget it.”   
“So your family basically just gives you a house because you weren’t wanted,” Michael says with a snicker.   
“That’s not what it is at all,” Bambam said rolling his eyes.   
“That’s how I see it, too,” Taylor piped in. 

Bambam prayed for the day to be over quicker. 

— 

“Dude, we’ve missed hanging out with you so much,” Jason complained as he sat down at the lunch table across from Mark.   
“Yeah, dude,” Alex added, sitting down next to Jason. “Why can’t you hang out with us after school anymore?”   
“I told you, my parents are being dumb,” Mark explained with a sigh. “My dad caught me coming home from your place on Saturday and now I’m grounded.”  
“That blows dude,” Steven added. “There is no way you can get out of it for the afternoon?”   
“I’m still working on it,” Mark admitted with a groan. “My parents aren’t easy to fool.”   
“They sound like a nightmare,” Alex responded. “Luckily mine don’t pay attention to me too much, I can get away with a lot. The perks of being in the middle of a divorce.”   
“I’m just lucky that mine are easy to lie to,” Jason said with a shrug.   
“I only have my mom and she works all the time, so I literally can come home at any hour and she doesn’t really notice,” Steven added on. 

The boys continued chatting about some of the things that they had gotten away with over the years, when Mark got a bright idea. 

“Excuse me guys, I will be right back,” Mark said, sliding his phone out of his pocket and heading for the bathrooms. 

On his way there he pondered who would be the better person to call—his dad, or his appa. His dad seemed to come with an innate sense of knowing when any one of his children were up to something, so his appa was ultimately chosen. 

“Hello?” Jinyoung answered the phone.   
“Hey appa,” Mark said, trying to keep his tone even.   
“What’s up, Mark?” Jinyoung asked. “Is something wrong?”   
“No, I just wanted to get your permission to study in the library after school today,” Mark asked. “You see I need to do a little bit more for that project with Yoongi and it would be much easier if we had access to all of the resources in the library.”   
“What time do you think you will be finished?” Jinyoung asked. “I can take Yoongi home, or we can see if Seokjin can bring you home.”   
“Appa, please,” Mark begged. “I know I’m grounded and I promise to be home at 5 o’clock sharp, but can you please let me walk home like normal. You don’t need to change around your schedule because I have a school project.” 

Jinyoung sighed, but ultimately relented. It would be a big help if he didn’t have to go to school to pick his son up. 

“Okay, okay,” Jinyoung said. “But I’m holding you to that 5 o’clock sharp, okay?”   
“Yes, appa! Thank you so much!” Mark said. “I promise I will work hard.” 

Mark hung up the phone after saying his goodbyes and headed back out to his friends. 

“Good news, I got my dad to think that I’m studying in the library after school today,” Mark told his friends as he sat down. “We can go play soccer in the park!”   
“Dude, you are the best!” Alex said, holding out his hand for a high five. 

Mark felt like his spirits had lifted and his day was taking a turn for the better, until he turned around and saw Yoongi staring at him with a raised eye brow. 

“See you guys later, I have to talk to my project partner for a second,” Mark said, waving his friends off and walking over to where Yoongi was standing. “Why are you giving me that look? Were you eavesdropping on my conversation?”   
“Not the one that you think I was,” Yoongi said folding his arms across his chest. “If you are going to have secret conversations in the bathroom on the phone, next time you might want to make sure that you are actually the only person in the bathroom.”   
“That’s still none of your business,” Mark said, folding his arms across his chest.   
“Given the fact that you are lying about doing school work with me, I would say it is,” Yoongi argued.   
“Don’t be like that,” Mark replied. “My parents literally grounded me for three weeks. What is the harm of one afternoon of fun?” “Oh don’t worry, I’m not going to tell them anything,” Yoongi said. “But just know that this is absolutely going to come back to bite you in the butt.”   
“If I don’t tell them, and you don’t tell them, I really don’t think it will,” Mark replied with a shrug. “Now I need to head to class.” 

Yoongi watched as he walked off, shaking his head. It was really a wonder that Mark couldn’t see how he was just digging himself deeper and deeper. 

— 

Yoongi walked into the gym for the assembly looking for his two best friends. It only took him a few moments to find them, with Hoseok waving excitedly for Yoongi to come join them. Yoongi generally found assemblies to be lame, but he had to admit that it was nice because it was a rare time that he could hang out with Hoseok and Jackson at school. They had met during lunch, their only shared period because Hoseok and Jackson were both a year younger than him. 

“Hey guys, how was your day?” Yoongi asked, sitting down in the space between his two friends.   
“I got to make a volcano in science class with Jackson!” Hoseok explained. “It was so much fun. Next week the teacher said we are going to be able to test out our volcanoes.”   
“That’s awesome!” Yoongi exclaimed. “I wish we were doing something fun like that in class. We are working on dissecting pellets right now and I find it super gross and boring.” 

Hoseok and Jackson nodded in sympathy. 

“So did you hear that we are going to be having a little three family get together on Sunday?” Hoseok asked. “My dad just told me about it last night, they apparently planned it the night that we all snuck out to his concert.”   
“We are actually hosting it at my house now,” Jackson added in. “Mark and I have had to help with some preparations for it, but luckily I will no longer be grounded by then! How was that, by the way…you know, working with Mark?”   
“It can be frustrating,” Yoongi admitted. “School is literally the last thing on your brother’s mind and his friends are obnoxious and I refuse to hold my tongue about it. It’s a barely civil relationship that the two of us have, if I’m going to be perfectly honest here. I’m sure he is going to be miserable on Sunday with no one to hang out with but us.” 

True to Yoongi’s word, Mark was not happy on Sunday. His day started off being woken up to help around the house to finish things up before their guests were to arrive. 

“You know you have four other kids, why am I the only one you got up early?” Mark complained while wiping down the kitchen table.   
“Well none of your brothers thought fun Saturday night plans included lying to their parents and getting wasted,” Jinyoung supplied in answer, not even looking up from where he was cleaning the kitchen counters. “And yet neither did your father or I, and you don’t hear us complaining that we are up at this hour and cleaning.”   
“Yeah, but you’re the adults,” Mark shot back. “You guys probably like this kind of dumb stuff.” 

Jaebeom couldn’t help but laugh at that from where he was sweeping the kitchen floor.   
“That would make life so much easier if I liked cleaning,” Jaebeom supplied. “If only.”   
“Jackson literally lied to his friends about meeting celebrities so they would think he is cool,” Mark argued. “And then got them to sneak out to the concert with him!”   
“Yes, and if you remember,” Jinyoung countered. “He was grounded for two weeks for it. You should have some recollection of doing chores together somewhere in your memory.” 

Mark grumbled in response, but couldn’t refute his appa’s statement. He continued on with his cleaning instead. It wasn’t long before their house was full of their guests. Jungkook, Yugyeom and Bambam were playing with water balloons in the back yard—soaking up the very little summer weather that was left in September; Jimin, Taehyung, and Youngjae were swinging on the playground set in the backyard discussing elementary school drama and who in their class liked who; and Jackson, Hoseok and Yoongi were sat on the back porch drinking lemonade and talking about their favorite music. Mark however, was sat at the kitchen table, pouting as his two fathers put it. 

“You don’t want to go soak up the sunshine and hang out outside?” Namjoon asked, pulling out the chair next to Mark and sitting down.   
“Not really,” Mark said with a shrug.   
“He wants to hang out with the cool kids in here Joonie,” Seokjin said, sitting down on the other side of Mark. “Hi, I’m Seokjin. I’m Yoongi, Taehyung and Jungkook’s dad. I’ve heard a lot about you, but haven’t really officially met.”   
“Ah yes, Yoongi said something about you dating my appa at some point,” Mark replied.   
“I’m sorry, you WHAT?” Jaebeom asked, pausing in his passing through of the kitchen and turning and facing the group at the table.   
“Yeah, Jinyoung and I dated for a very brief amount of time,” Seokjin replied with a shrug. “So small of an amount of time that I don’t even really consider him on my exes list.”   
“You dated him?” Jaebeom asked, turning around and facing Jinyoung who had just walked in.   
“Yeah, and what of it?” Jinyoung asked, looking at his husband in confusion.  
“He’s like a total 10,” Jaebeom said, gesturing frantically toward Seokjin. “I can’t compete with that.”   
“And yet we broke up because I was still in love with you, I got back together with you, married you, and decided to adopt five children with you,” Jinyoung summed up, and then sarcastically added. “I really see the problem here.”   
“Gross, my dad is actually jealous,” Mark grumbled.   
“I’d be jealous of dating me too,” Seokjin said with a shrug. “I’m a catch.”   
“If you haven’t noticed, Mark, Seokjin hyung here has a very big ego,” Namjoon told Mark.   
“Oh stop!” Seokjin complained. “I’m just messing around.”  
“You aren’t wrong, you are very much a catch,” Namjoon said with a big grin.   
“And why did I decide to stay inside?” Mark asked, looking up towards the sky in question.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for those of you that continue to read this, even though I don't update on any sort of regular schedule. Things have been crazy here. First, I went home for about 10 days to the US. There we had BTS' Comeback which OMG IS SO AMAZING. Then we had ticketing, which with US internet I was not able to get a ticket for Seoul :( but I was still trying for cancelled tickets. My friends in Korea were getting up at 2am each night to try for me because that's when the cancelled tickets come back up. But then, the day before I was to come back to Korea the Seoul concerts got flat out cancelled. (My one friend had literally won lottery for the concert on her birthday! I'm so sad for her.) Now, I'm back in Korea and basically just sitting around in my apartment 24/7. Schools don't open for an additional two weeks now so I should have a lot of time on my hands before I have to actually be back teaching. I'm hoping to be able to write some in that time period. I hope all of your days haven't been nearly as crazy and that you all stay happy and healthy :) 
> 
> Anyways, please let me know what you think. Jinnie and Joonie are weaseling their ways back into each others' hearts :) And then we have poor Bammie :( I promise with in the next couple chapters we will get to the peak of Mark's drama. It's admittedly been kind of fun to make him so annoying, but he's about to see the light I promise to all of you Mark stans. I also enjoy a nice and jealous Jaebeom. We all know that boy is 100% whipped for his Jinyoungie.


	11. The Big Showdown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! It's me again :) This is what happens when pretty much everything you were supposed to be doing gets postponed and/or cancelled (Like seeing BTS at Super Concert in Daegu) and you are supposed to spend as little time outside as possible. I'm majorly bored and spending most of my time writing, drinking lots of alcohol, and watching BTS/Got7 videos. Hope you enjoy my random bouts of productivity :)

Chapter 11 

Jaebeom looked up from where he was chopping fruits and veggies for the boys to snack on in the kitchen. He couldn’t help but smile at Mark sitting at the table, deeply immersed in conversation with Seokjin and Namjoon. It was nice to see a smile on the boy’s face, after he had spent majority of the past week pouting. Sometimes it sucked to be a parent and to have to be ‘the bad guy’ when their kids got in trouble. 

“Someone seriously tried to stow away on your tour bus?” Mark asked in amazement. “That’s simultaneously awesome and terrifying.”  
“Yeah, I wasn’t too big of a fan of it,” Namjoon chuckled. “My manager found them long before I even got on the bus.”  
“Do you know I saw you in concert at the Hip Hop Fest in 2018?” Mark asked. “I was so sad because you had postponed your appearance a whole day. I was worried you were going to cancel.”  
“Ah yes, I remember that,” Namjoon replied. “Jimin was really sick and luckily made enough of a recovery that I could play the second day.”  
“You weren’t going to play because your kid was sick?” Mark looked at him in confusion. “Couldn’t you have just had someone else look after him?”  
“I don’t know if you know the story behind how I ended up with my two children,” Namjoon said. “I had an older brother who died in an accident along with my sister in law. My older brother meant the world to me. I always looked up to him growing up, and he used to see himself as my protector. He was there for me any time that I needed him, because as he told me, that’s what hyungs do and he was setting an example for me as to how to be a good older brother to my younger sister as well. When he died, he left me his two children and I vowed to be the best father in the world to those two kids. I want him to be proud of the way that I raised these children and I won’t let anything come in the way of that, not even my career. They are too important to me.”  
“Being a good brother and father means that much to you?” Mark asked.  
“It’s the most important thing in the world to me,” Namjoon answered.  
“What about you? Do you have any siblings?” Mark asked, turning towards Seokjin.  
“Yes, I have an older brother,” Seokjin replied. “He taught me so much and I really looked up to him. We don’t get to choose what type of family we are raised by, Mark. Those of us that are lucky to have a close tight-knit family like yours should do our best to appreciate and not take advantage of it. As you heard from Namjoon here, you never know when they might be gone.” 

Mark nodded, processing all that they were saying to him. It was a lot to take in. 

“Why don’t you go call the boys in,” Jinyoung said, walking over to where the three were sat at the table. “The food is ready and it looks like a storm is coming in. They might have to spend the rest of the afternoon indoors playing video games.”  
“Do I get—?” Mark began to ask, but got cut off.  
“Not on your life, kid,” Jaebeom replied, walking by and ruffling Mark’s hair. 

—

Mondays were Mark’s least favorite day of the week. It meant that he had a whole week of test announcements and new assignments, when he was still struggling to catch up on the old ones. He was once again handed a nice red F on a history assignment from the previous week that he was supposed to get signed by his parents—number eight if he could keep track correctly. His second in history alone. So far no one had questioned his forgery of his dad’s signature, and he was just going to keep pressing his luck. 

Mark sat on the bleachers of the track next to Alex, waiting for the rest of their gym class to finish their timed mile. They were doing fitness tests this week, something that Mark was happy to say he could pass with flying colors. 

“You seem overly stressed, man,” Alex said, nudging Mark in the side. “What is up with you?”  
“Can I be honest with you?” Mark asked, squinting in the bright sunshine towards his friend.  
“Yeah, dude,” Alex said with a shrug. “What’s up?”  
“I’m doing terribly in school,” Mark admitted. “Like to the point that I’m supposed to have had my parents sign several tests and assignments and notes that my teacher sent home. Of course, I can’t have them actually sign them because that is basically a death warrant. If I thought I was grounded before, this would be a whole other level of grounding because my parents would immediately know that it’s not that I don’t understand the material. I’m simply not trying.”  
“Wow, dude,” Alex replied with a laugh. “Who actually cares about school? Just do enough to get C’s. They are passing grades and your parents don’t get notes sent to them.”  
“Which is something I should have thought of before, but didn’t so now I’m failing several classes and struggling to catch back up,” Mark admitted.  
“You just need to relax,” Alex said, reaching into his pocket with a sigh. “And luckily I have exactly what you need.” 

Mark gaped at what Alex was discreetly handing him. Sure he had seen a joint before, there had been plenty of Alex’s brother’s friends smoking them at the party he had been at. He had just never been offered one before. 

“Dude I can’t—” Mark began to protest but got cut off.  
“Don’t be a wuss, and just take it,” Alex ordered. “You won’t get caught and I promise it will help you destress man.” 

Mark quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching them before slipping it into his own pocket. He truly had no plans to actually smoke it, he just was terrified that one of the teachers would see Alex holding it out for him. It was much better for his sake to put it in his pocket and dispose of it later on. 

—

Namjoon sighed and slumped down in his desk chair in his studio. Nothing was coming to him. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t write. He needed a break. 

Bzz-bzz. 

Namjoon looked down at his phone to see that Seokjin was actually calling him. 

“You have impeccable timing,” Namjoon said, answering the phone. “I was literally driving myself crazy in my studio from my severe lack of inspiration.”  
“Glad I could be of service,” Seokjin replied. “I was actually calling to see if you wanted to have lunch at my place today. I was trying out a new recipe and simply made way too much food…”  
“You don’t have to make excuses, we all know you have never understood the concept of too much food” Namjoon said with a laugh. “I would be happy to come over for lunch. What time should I arrive?”  
“You can actually head on over now,” Seokjin replied. “The soup should be finished within the next ten minutes.”  
“Looking forward to it, hyung,” Namjoon said, already grabbing all of his items together so he could head over to Seokjin’s place. “See you in fifteen minutes.” 

They ended their phone conversation with the promise to see each other soon and Seokjin hung up with a big smile on his face. He had missed this feeling, the excitement of someone you enjoy spending time with. It wasn’t that he hadn’t dated since Namjoon. Sure he had dated plenty. But there was always something missing. The feeling was never quite right. He might have gotten butterflies with some others, but with Namjoon it was something more like sureness. It was the feeling of home. 

— 

Jackson finished putting his math textbooks into his locker and was in the process of looking for his English book when he was roughly shoved from behind. This ended up with him sprawled on the floor. He looked up to see who he recognized to be Steven standing above him, chuckling. 

“I heard you joined the dance team, loser,” Steven taunted. “You are basically just proving the fact that not only are you secretly a girl, but you’re gay.”  
“How are those things related?” Jackson asked, standing up and brushing himself off in confusion—his heart pounding rapidly in his chest.  
“Every one knows that boys do sports and girls dance,” Steven replied, like it was the most obvious thing on the planet.  
“We have several girl’s teams that would prove that theory incorrect,” Jackson pointed out.  
“Are you trying to get smart with me?” Steven asked, shoving Jackson against the locker once more. 

Jackson hissed in pain at the impact, knowing that one was going to leave a bruise. 

“HEY!” A voice called out behind them, and Jackson looked up in confusion to see his brother Mark standing in front of him with Yoongi and Hoseok appearing along with several other students who were gathering around to see what was happening. “Don’t you dare push my brother ever again.”  
“This dweeb is your brother?” Steven asked with a laugh. “I didn’t even know you had a brother.”  
“Only I get to call him that,” Mark fumed, and then reeled his fist back before landing a nice solid punch to Steven’s face. “And I have four.” 

Yoongi, Hoseok and Jackson’s jaws dropped in shock at Mark finally snapping at his friends. Jackson would say this was the proudest he had ever felt of his older brother. Steven of course wasn’t going to take the punch lying down, and snapped right back at Mark. It wasn’t long before the two were scuffling on the floor and two teachers were pulling them apart. Mark was breathing heavily as he was being held back by his history teacher, glaring over at where Steven was being held back by their math teacher. 

“Cut it out guys,” the math teacher, Mr. Morgan ordered sternly. “You have both earned yourself a trip to the principal’s office.” 

That cooled Mark off very quickly. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. There was no way in hell that his dads weren’t going to be called, and both teachers would be there as witness to the fight—both teachers who had received forged-signatures from Mark. 

“And what do we have here?” Mr. Abrams, the history teacher who was holding Mark back, asked as he let go off Mark to reach down and pick the joint up off the floor. 

Mark wanted to be swallowed by a black hole. That was the only way to get out of this situation, he prayed for sudden death. 

“So boys, do you want to tell me whose joint this is?” Mr. Abrams asked. “Or do I need to have all three of you dragged to the principal’s office to be questioned about drug use as well.” 

Mark blanched. Three of them. The teacher was including Jackson as a suspect because he was standing there as well. He couldn’t let his brother be implicated in this. Taking a deep breath, he slowly raised his hand. 

“It’s mine, Mr. Abrams,” Mark admitted, looking down at the floor in front of him because he was too afraid to see Jackson’s reaction. “Jackson had nothing to do with anything here. The fight was because I saw Steven push my brother. He shouldn’t get in any trouble.”  
“All three of you will have to come to the office with us,” Mr. Morgan replied. “Jackson was a witness to this whole event, regardless.”  
“Now come on, let’s go,” Mr. Abrams said, grabbing a hold of Mark’s arm once more and gesturing for Jackson to come along with them. 

Jackson caught Yoongi and Hoseok’s shocked and confused gazes. They gave him a small nod of encouragement and Jackson turned to follow the others to the principal’s office. They were all three sat in the reception area of the principal’s office as Mr. Abrams and Mr. Morgan were in with the principal, informing him of the situation. Mark stiffened in his chair as he heard the receptionist on the phone with one of his fathers. He didn’t know which one, but it wouldn’t matter either way. One would immediately inform the other. In essence, he was screwed. 

Mark suddenly felt too hot and like he couldn’t breathe. It felt like all in the air in the room was thinning. He had to get out of there. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t see straight. He just got up and he ran. 

— 

Seokjin and Namjoon had just finished their meal and were sat sipping cups of coffee on Seokjin’s couch, reminiscing about their college days. They were in the middle of a story about their spring break trip to the mountain home when the doorbell rang. Seokjin got up confused, unsure as to who would be coming around at this time of day. His confusion only increased when he opened the front door and saw a very panicky and upset Mark standing on his front step. 

“Mark, what’s wrong?” Seokjin asked in shock, ushering the boy inside.  
“I am in a massive amount of trouble,” Mark choked out. “Like my dads are going to murder me amount of trouble.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So RIP to Mark. It was nice knowing you, buddy. Haha. JK. But actually :P But also, how proud are you for Mark finally listening to Yoongi AND Jin AND Joon about what it means to be a good brother?? So any guesses as for what's to come? Like I said, I still have two weeks before school is (potentially) starting again here, so who knows when another cheeky little update might come your way. :)


	12. Confronting Mistakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Back again with another chapter for you. Also, Happy Birthday Min Yoongi :)

Chapter 12 

Seokjin ushered the boy over to the couch and had him sit down next to Namjoon. 

“I’m going to get you some water,” Seokjin said softly. “And then you are going to have to start from the beginning here, Mark.” 

Mark nodded showing that he had heard Seokjin, even though he looked very distracted and lost in his thoughts. Seokjin quickly headed to the kitchen to grab a glass of water for the boy, pulling out his cell phone and sending a quick text to Jinyoung to let him know where his son was. 

—

Jinyoung hurried into the reception area of the principal’s office, looking around and seeing a boy he didn’t recognize sitting there with his parents and then on the other side of the room he saw Jackson.

“Hey baby, what’s going on?” Jinyoung asked in Korean, rushing over to sit next to his son.   
“Appa! I’m so glad you’re here!” Jackson exclaimed in Korean, much to the clear confusion of Steven and his parents. “Steven was bullying me and then all of a sudden Mark showed up and he seriously became so awesome and punched Steven in the face, actually standing up for me! But then he got into a fight and teachers came and broke them up, but then there was a joint that Mark said was his. I was so confused. Then we all came here and Mark was freaking out, and I don’t know what happened. He ran off and I don’t know where he is. I tried to follow, but the receptionist told me I would be in trouble if I did and—”  
“It’s okay Seunnie,” Jinyoung said soothingly, placing a hand on his son’s shoulder in comfort. “I got a message from Jin hyung that Mark ran to his place. Your dad is going to pick him up from there on his way here. Everything is going to be okay.” 

—

Seokjin handed Mark the glass of water and the sat down on the other side of the boy, rubbing his arm in comfort. Mark shakily drank a few sips of the water before putting the glass down on the coffee table in front of him. 

“Do you think you could tell us what’s going on?” Namjoon asked, exchanging a questioning glance with Seokjin who nodded—he could tell that Namjoon was asking if he had reached out to either Jaebeom or Jinyoung.   
“It’s a really long story,” Mark said softly, fidgeting on the couch. “I don’t want to waste your time. I don’t even know why I came here. I just started panicking and the next thing I knew I was at your front doorstep.”   
“I’m glad that you came to me, Mark,” Seokjin said. “I want you to feel comfortable enough with Joonie and I here that you can share your problems with us. We aren’t going to judge, we just want to be able to help you.”  
“Why don’t you start at the beginning,” Namjoon suggested. “We can’t help you if we have no idea what has happened.” 

Mark took a shaky breath and nodded. 

“I guess you could say it all started with my first year of middle school,” Mark began. “I got picked on a lot because I’m what people would call scrawny. Add that to the fact that I’m Asian and for some reason that comes with the stereotype that I’m weak and nerdy, or even too young and feminine looking. The kids in my class could be ruthless, especially because there was no one else at my school that looked like me. One day I snapped. I proved to them that I wasn’t weak while in gym class, nailing every single bully that taunted me in a game of dodge ball. It shocked them all. They stopped seeing the nerd, and started seeing the athlete. I was so desperate for them to like me that I started hanging out with them once I seemed to have gained some of their approval.   
My group of friends became myself, Steven, Jason, and Alex. They were ironically some of the worst offenders of bullying me before, but they very quickly became some of my closest friends. They invited me into their inner circle, and suddenly I was part of the most popular group of students in school. This came with several realizations, though. I knew that I was the exception to their rule. That they only liked me because I proved myself, they still didn’t accept me for me. Do you get what I mean?”   
“They took you in because they almost feared and admired you, but didn’t take into account their own prejudices,” Namjoon summarized. “They still were just as narrow-minded as before.”   
“Exactly,” Mark said with a nod. “I knew that while they accepted me, my family wouldn’t be an exception as well. I knew that I had to keep that part of my life separate and a secret from them or they would rethink their opinion of me.” 

Namjoon and Seokjin both felt an urge to point out all of the things that were wrong with this logic, but both expertly held their tongues. It wasn’t their moment to judge, or even to offer suggestions. This was the time for Mark to let everything off of his chest and just be listened to for once. 

“One thing that I knew for certain was they couldn’t find out that I have two dads,” Mark admitted. “That was why it was so important for me to pretend like I didn’t know, and especially wasn’t related to Jackson. Jackson could let something spill, and everything that I had worked for would be gone away in the blink of an eye and I would be back to being tormented at school. This was fortunately made easier for me by the fact that my dads wanted us to keep a little bit of our birth identities and cultures, so they had us keep our last names from birth. I know that’s a terrible thing to say that this is the reason I was happy they did that.”   
“We aren’t here to judge right now,” Seokjin reminded softly. “It’s a good step that you recognize that, though. So how does this lead to what happened today? Did everything come out?”   
“Well there is actually more that I need to confess leading up to today,” Mark admitted with a sigh. “I very quickly became obsessed with just hanging out with my friends and playing sports and partying with them, that I basically left school on the back burner. As you can imagine my grades started slipping majorly because of that. I’ve received basically nothing but failed tests since school started, and I’m lucky if I’ve even turned in half of the assignments that were due.”   
“Don’t you have to get those signed by your parents?” Namjoon asked, thinking back to the one time that Jimin had forgotten he had a test coming up. The boy had flunked the test and came home a sobbing mess with the paper for Namjoon to sign—the boy was seriously too much of a perfectionist sometimes.   
“Yeah,” Mark admitted with a sigh. “I knew I couldn’t let either one of my dads see those failed tests or notes home or I would be screwed. That would get me grounded even more, and then I wouldn’t be able to hang out with my friends. So, I made the admittedly dumb decision to forge their signatures on my papers and just hand them back into school. I was going to try to get caught back up, I swear. But then I just felt like I was too far behind and I couldn’t catch up and the notes and bad grades just kept piling up.  
This leads me to my next dilemma which happened when I admitted this to my friend Alex today, who then proceeded to hand me a joint in the middle of gym class saying that it would help me calm down. I didn’t want to take it but I was so afraid that we would get caught. I just shoved it in my pocket, figuring I could get rid of it later.   
After gym class was over I was heading to my locker and happened to see Steven shoving my brother against a locker, and something in me just snapped. I kept justifying that it was okay for my friends to be mean to my brother because they were just words. He wasn’t receiving the physical bullying that I had. I knew he was strong, and he wouldn’t let some dumb words get to him. Yoongi actually hates me because of this justification thing that I kept doing in my head. He would constantly tell me that I was neglecting my duty as Jackson’s hyung. I wouldn’t listen, though. But then listening to the two of you on Sunday, and even talking with you Namjoon-ssi last week, started to get into my head. I was beginning to see what family truly means. Seeing Steven push Jackson just snapped something in my brain. I couldn’t believe that I had been such a terrible brother, and I don’t know how Jackson is ever going to forgive me. I decked Steven right in the face, though. I even admitted to him that Jackson is my brother and that he wasn’t allowed to touch him.”   
“Not that I condone violence, but that must have felt good,” Seokjin said with a soft smile.   
“It really did,” Mark admitted with a chuckle. “But he wasn’t going to take getting punched in the face lying down, so of course a bit of a scuffle broke out between us. Two of my teachers were the ones that broke it up, the ones that I had handed forged signatures to, of course. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the joint had fallen out of my pocket during the fight and was found by my history teacher. So you can see why I mean it when I say that my dad and my appa are actually going to murder me. You can’t tell them I’m here, please. I can’t face them.”   
“Mark, your dads love you more than life itself,” Seokjin said, sliding off the couch and crouching down in front of the boy, getting Mark to look him directly in the eyes. “While yes, they are going to be upset over your actions, and rightly so, they are still going to love you and support you.”  
“We all make mistakes in life,” Namjoon added on. “You have an opportunity right now. You can do one of two things, you can run from your mistakes or you can confront them head on, admit that you were wrong, and use this as a learning experience to become a better person.” 

Mark silently took in their words for a few moments, nodding his understanding and begrudgingly admitting that they were right. He had screwed up—majorly—and now was the time to own up to that. As Yoongi said, he should have seen that everything was going to catch up to him eventually. 

“It’s going to suck, isn’t it?” Mark asked with a sigh. “They are literally going to ground me forever.”   
“Can’t refute that one,” Namjoon replied with a shrug, which earned a small laugh from Mark. “But I think they will be very proud of you for standing up for your brother today.”  
“As a wise man once said: It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up your friends,” Seokjin said with a sage nod, sitting back down next to Mark. 

Namjoon narrowed his eyes at Seokjin in confusion and suspicion. Where in the hell did he pull that one out of? 

“Never thought I would be quoted Albus Dumbledore in this situation,” Mark chuckled. “But thanks. I guess you can tell my dads where I am.” 

Ding-dong. 

“They’ve known this entire time, haven’t they?” Mark asked with a sigh, his smile immediately disappearing from his face—when he said he was ready to face them, he thought he still had at least 15 minutes until they’d arrive.   
“You should know by now that there is a concerned parent code,” Seokjin said, standing up from the couch. “We are never going to let another parent fret and worry about where their kid is and if they are safe, if we know both answers.” 

Mark nodded, he should have seen this coming. He knew how good and caring of a parent Seokjin was, that was literally why the subconscious in Mark’s mind led him here. That didn’t make it any easier to wait in anticipation as Seokjin walked to the front door and appeared a few moments later with a worried looking Jaebeom trailing behind him. 

Jaebeom quickly headed over to Mark on the couch, lifting his son up and pulling him into a tight suffocating hug. Mark felt a few tears start to stream down his cheeks. He should have never questioned for even a second that every reaction that his parents would have would come from a place of love. He was truly so lucky to have been adopted by them. 

— 

Jackson sat at the lunch table across from Yoongi and Hoseok, still mostly in a state of shock. He had been called into the office with Jinyoung to give his statement of what events had happened that day. They had even gotten him to admit that Steven, Jason and Alex had been verbally taunting him for a while, which had recently turned into a few shoves here and there. Today had been the most violent that the boys had ever been, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t been psychologically messing with him before. 

After he had explained the situation the principal decided it was best to send Jackson to lunch while they waited for Mark to reappear. Jackson had said everything that he needed to, so they really didn’t need anything more from him. Jinyoung promised Jackson that they would discuss everything as a whole family when he got home later that day, giving Jackson a quick but meaningful hug before sending the boy off to his friends. 

“I can’t believe he snapped like that,” Jackson finally stated, putting his sandwich back on his plate and running his hand through his hair. “It was better than I ever imagined.”   
“He should have done it a lot sooner,” Yoongi stated, which earned him a slap on the arm from Hoseok. “What?”   
“Let Jackson have his moment,” Hoseok complained. “If he is happy that his brother finally stood up for him, then let him enjoy it.”   
“I’m just saying that he shouldn’t forgive Mark right away for all the shit that he has done,” Yoongi explained.   
“But that’s not really up to you whether or not Jackson forgives him,” Hoseok reminded.   
“Guys!” Jackson said, cutting off their conversation. “I’m not stupid, I know he was terrible. I am going to need him to actually apologize and to show that he won’t do it anymore, but actions do speak louder than words sometimes. Mark punching someone that he was so desperate to prove himself to does say a lot.” 

Yoongi nodded his understanding. 

“Besides, I’m more concerned about the drugs,” Jackson admitted. “I had no idea my brother was smoking pot.”   
“Do you think that will get him expelled?” Hoseok asked in worry—while he didn’t like a lot of the things that Mark had done, he didn’t think the boy deserved to be expelled from school or anything. 

Jackson and Yoongi shrugged. 

“I don’t know anyone in my class that has been caught with any drugs before,” Yoongi admitted. “I’m sure neither one of your parents are going to be happy about it.”   
“I wonder if my dad has a long boring slideshow for this too,” Jackson mused. “It really wouldn’t surprise me. I once took a pack of gum from the convenience store without paying for it and he made me write a letter of apology before bringing the gum back. He had a template for the letter prepared.” 

Both Hoseok and Yoongi stared at Jackson in shock for a moment. 

“He’s really prepared for anything, isn’t he?” Hoseok asked. 

Jackson shrugged. 

“To be fair, Mark might have done something similar and my dad could have made the template then,” Jackson admitted. “Poor Yugyeom and Bambam are going to have literally every scenario covered by the time they get to their teenage years. It’s bad enough that my dad is somehow like a human lie detector.”   
“Oh I get that,” Yoongi sympathized with a nod. “He may be goofy a lot of the time, but my dad definitely knows when anything is up.”   
“Mine just has a way with words,” Hoseok added on. “He knows exactly what to say to make you feel guilty and confess anything that you’ve done.”   
“He does have an IQ of 148,” Yoongi said with a nod. 

Hoseok stared at him blankly for a moment. 

“It’s a little bit weird that you know that, hyung,” Hoseok said, deadpan.   
“He’s literally my idol, Hoseokie,” Yoongi defended with a shrug. 

— 

Seokjin and Namjoon collapsed back on the couch with a contented sigh after Mark and Jaebeom walked out the door. 

“You’re very good at dealing with problems, hyung,” Namjoon complimented, laying his head on Seokjin’s shoulder.  
“I could say the same to you,” Seokjin replied, wrapping his arms around Namjoon. “There is something you said that made me think, though.” 

Namjoon pulled away a little to look at Seokjin in question. 

“You said that you can take a mistake, confront it head on, admit that you were wrong, and learn from it,” Seokjin explained.   
“Yeah, and I truly believe it,” Namjoon said. “What has you thinking of it?”   
“Well that’s what I want to do,” Seokjin explained. “I want to admit that I was wrong about the way that I handled you taking the job in LA. I shouldn’t have overreacted the way that I did. I should have listened to your reasons behind it, and not jumped down your throat. I want to be able to learn from that and move forward, with you.” 

Namjoon pulled his head completely off of Seokjin’s shoulder now, turning to look at him instead and grabbing his hands. 

“Thank you for admitting that, hyung,” Namjoon said. “But I would also like to admit that I was selfish for expecting you to pick up your whole life and move with me. I should have discussed everything with you, and not just jumped the gun. I wasn’t looking at the whole picture, I was only thinking of myself. I’m truly sorry, hyung.” 

Seokjin smiled at Namjoon. 

“I know we said we were mostly taking things slow, but can I kiss you?” Seokjin asked.  
“You never have to ask that,” Namjoon replied, leaning in a capturing Seokjin’s lips with his own. 

It was a nostalgic feeling. It was home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter :) I really love Mark being able to run to Jin and Joon and get advice from them. Sometimes you just need an outside party to listen to you and give you advice before you can face up to your parents. He is truly maturing and improving as a person. Also, I hope you are also excited to learn more about Jin and Joon's backstory as to why they split up. You've been getting bits and pieces, but the full thing will come out soon, I promise!


	13. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I hope you are all safe and healthy in these crazy crazy times. Our schools here in Korea have been pushed back an additional 2 weeks until April 6th. Hoping that we will be able to start then. It feels crazy that I haven't seen my kids since February 11th! Unlike a lot of the world, this is actually the start of our school year the keeps getting postponed and not mid-semester. My family was supposed to be coming to visit in April, but they have rescheduled it and are coming in August/September instead which I'm happy about (for safety reasons, obviously I would love to see them asap) In other news, the Got7 concert in Thailand still hasn't be changed and is planned for May 9th still. Really curious when I'm going to hear about that, surely it's going to have to be re-rescheduled, right??? Well anyways, that's really all that's new here. Oh, and I guess I had my birthday last week too! My friends and I had Italian food and cake, and they gifted me with a baby Mang, wine, and Lemona (for the health :P) Lol. Not even sure if anyone reads these, but like I said hope you are all doing well!

Chapter 13

Mark trailed behind Jinyoung and Jaebeom as they headed out of the principal’s office. It had been a pretty rough past hour for Mark. All the cards had been laid out on the table, so to speak. Now he was facing two weeks of in-school suspension and a very uncomfortable conversation with his parents. 

“The school day ends in 15 minutes so I’m just going to wait here for the kids,” Jinyoung said. “You two should head on back to the house.”  
“See you soon,” Jaebeom said, planting a kiss on Jinyoung before turning and heading towards his car, gesturing for Mark to follow. 

Mark heaved a sigh and turned to start heading after his dad, but Jinyoung placed a hand on Mark to keep him from walking away. 

“I know things look really bad right now,” Jinyoung said softly. “But we are going to get through this, okay?”   
“I’m just so sorry for everything I’ve done,” Mark whispered in reply.   
“I know, baby,” Jinyoung said. “And as you can imagine, your dad and I aren’t happy about most of those things. That doesn’t mean that we are any less proud of you as our son, though. You made some mistakes, will pay the consequences for those mistakes and then we will move on from there.” 

Jinyoung pulled Mark into a hug, squeezing him tightly before sending him off with a playful swat to his rear. 

“Best not keep your dad waiting,” Jinyoung said. 

Mark blushed at the swat, sincerely hoping no-one was looking out the windows at them. He headed off to where his dad’s car was, getting into the passenger seat and quickly putting on his seatbelt. 

“I want you to know that while I can’t condone violence,” Jaebeom said, putting the car into reverse and beginning to back out of the space. “I’m very proud of you for sticking up for your brother. I know you sometimes get frustrated with it, but he really does look up to you.”   
“And what a great example I’ve been setting for him,” Mark replied with a sigh. “For all of my brothers, really.”   
“Well this is an opportunity for you to set an example for them,” Jaebeom replied. “Life is all about how you handle your mistakes.” 

Mark nodded, looking down at his fingernails and beginning to pick at them. 

“I’m grounded for basically forever…right?” Mark asked with a sigh.   
“You’ve got that right, bud,” Jaebeom replied. “Should give you lots of time to bond with your siblings, though.”   
“How am I going to face Jackson?” Mark asked. “He should never forgive me for the way I let my friends treat him. He should hate me.”  
“Grudges aren’t really in your brother’s nature,” Jaebeom replied, putting the car in park and turning off the engine. “You just need to sincerely apologize to him, Mark. He is never going to hate you.” 

Mark sincerely hoped that his dad was right about this. He hoped it wasn’t too late to amend things with his brother. 

Jaebeom and Mark got out of the car and headed into the house. Mark trailed awkwardly behind his dad through the front hallway, flicking off his shoes on the way, and into the kitchen. He wasn’t sure what his dad was going to want from him. There were too many options here. He could be forced to sit down and listen to one of his father’s long and tedious lectures until the rest of the family came home, he could be sent to his bedroom to do some thinking, or even his least favorite punishment that he luckily hadn’t been asked to do since he was ten—forced to stand in the corner to reflect on his actions. 

“Here, let’s get some ice on your bruises there,” Jaebeom said, gesturing for Mark to sit down at the kitchen island and heading to grab an ice pack from the freezer. 

There was a dull ache where he had been punched, but honestly Mark had been too preoccupied with the amount of trouble that he was in to really think much about it. He accepted the ice pack wrapped in a towel from his dad, placing it gently against his face. He then watched as his dad walked around the kitchen gathering a pad of paper and a ballpoint pen. Mark watched in confusion as both items were placed in front of him. 

“You are going to spend the time until the rest of the family gets home outlining every single thing you’ve done that has lead you to be in this position right now,” Jaebeom explained. “I want you to not leave a single thing out. Trust me, now is the time to confess everything. If it comes out that you hid something later, you are not going to like the consequences Mark Yi En.” 

Mark gulped at the tone and the use of his middle name. He switched the ice pack into his left hand, picking up the pen to begin to write. This was going to suck. 

—

Namjoon had spent the rest of the afternoon at Seokjin’s, deciding it wasn’t worth it to go back into the studio that day. It wasn’t like he was even getting anything done there in the first place. It was a little while later that Seokjin suggested they just tell all of their kids to come over for dinner. Namjoon messaged Hoseok to pick up Jimin from the elementary school and to walk together with Seokjin’s kids to Seokjin’s home. He got a very excited smiley face emoji in response when Hoseok eventually saw the text, so he was going to assume it wasn’t a problem. 

When the kids all made their way into the house a few hours later, it was a lot of noise all at once. Namjoon wouldn’t classify it as annoying, but rather nice and homey feeling. The kids all seemed to be happy. Yoongi and Hoseok made their way into the kitchen first.

“Oh my God dad, you are never going to believe what happened at school today!” Hoseok exclaimed.   
“Oh really?” Namjoon asked, swiveling on the stool to give Hoseok his full attention.   
“Mark completely snapped and punched one of his friends in the face!” Hoseok explained. “It was so awesome!” 

Seokjin and Namjoon shared a glance, debating if they should reveal that they were already in the know of this information. They assumed it would eventually get back to the kids. Jackson would surely come to know where Mark went from the principal’s office, and then would tell his two friends. 

“We actually heard the story from Mark,” Seokjin finally piped in. 

Yoongi and Hoseok both stared at the man in shock. 

“You what?” Yoongi asked slowly. “How did you see Mark?” 

By this point the rest of the kids all had piled into the kitchen, saying their hellos to their respective dads and looking for some food. 

“Why don’t we get some snacks together and go sit and talk in the living room,” Seokjin suggested. 

The boys looked like they wanted the information now, but nodded their heads and did as they were asked. Together they gathered some snacks for both the families and made their way to the living room. The food was placed on the coffee table, with the kids all kneeling around the coffee table, voraciously eating the moment it was placed in front of them. 

Seokjin cleared his throat to get all of their attentions. 

“So some things occurred this afternoon that we should discuss,” Seokjin began. “As some of you know, Mark got himself into a bit of trouble with his school involving, grades, lying, fighting and even succumbing to peer pressure involving drugs.”

The younger three boys stared at Seokjin with wide shocked eyes, clearly not privy to the information that Yoongi and Hoseok already knew. 

“Now I want to be clear,” Seokjin continued. “I’m sure you are going to hear all about it from your friends. However, you are not to make fun of, taunt, or annoy Mark about it or you will not like the consequences. Is that clear?” 

All five boys nodded their understanding. They could tell that Seokjin was being very serious. 

“He is going to pay for his mistakes, which is all that should be expected of him,” Namjoon replied. “He came here this afternoon when things got to be too much, and he talked things through with Seokjin hyung and I. We are unsure how much Jinyoung and Jaebeom hyung are sharing with their kids, but once we are we can continue this conversation.” 

The kids looked disappointed at this once more, but nodded. It wasn’t like they could change their dad’s minds. 

“Now once you are all finished, please get started on your homework,” Namjoon said, standing up from his seat on the couch. “Jin hyung and I will be in the kitchen working on dinner.” 

Jimin and Hoseok both shot their heads up at that statement, causing Seokjin to laugh and Namjoon to roll his eyes. 

“Don’t worry, I will just be supervising,” Namjoon said with a sigh. “So glad you have zero faith in me.”   
“I’ve known you for 13 years dad,” Hoseok said with a shrug.   
“You can’t deny that logic, Joonie,” Seokjin said with a chuckle, escorting Namjoon towards the kitchen. 

— 

Mark heard the front door of the house open and the noise of his siblings entering the house. He assumed his dad was in the front office because he could hear him greeting the rest of the family. Mark looked down at the list that he had made and felt his stomach drop. It was quite the list— he had listened and tried to be as thorough as possible. It was official, he wasn’t going to be allowed to leave the house until he graduated and went to college. 

It was a few minutes later that his dad and his appa walked into the kitchen together, the other kids presumably sent off to do their homework. 

“Did you finish your list?” Jaebeom asked. 

Mark nodded, hesitantly handing over the very damning piece of paper. Jaebeom and Jinyoung leaned over and read through the list together, each sighing at different moments. Mark squirmed awkwardly in his seat. 

“Come on, let’s sit at the table together and go through this,” Jaebeom said once he and Jinyoung had completely finished reading through it. 

That was certainly the last thing that Mark wanted to do, but he complied—getting up off the stool and moving over to the kitchen table. Jaebeom sat at the head of the table and Jinyoung sat right across the table from where Mark sat. 

Mark didn’t know how long they sat there going through the list, but it felt like ages. They went over every single transgression, discussing why it was wrong and what he could have done differently. He had even remembered to include the time he snuck out of the house on the one Saturday night to go to a party, as well as the time he had lied about studying with Yoongi at the library and had hung out with his friends instead. If there was any other misdeeds that he had done, Mark had well and truly forgotten them because he had really tried to be as open and honest as possible—despite the fact it was about to kick him in the ass. 

“Why don’t you go upstairs to your dad and my room for a bit,” Jinyoung said after they finished discussing the last transgression. “Your dad and I have a lot to talk about.”   
“Your room?” Mark asked in confusion.   
“Jackson is in yours,” Jaebeom replied for his husband. “You could use some time on your own to think things over. I put a towel and some sweatpants in our room in case you would like to shower or change.” 

Mark nodded and headed on up to his parent’s bedroom, deciding he would take up the offer to shower. He was hoping that it would allow him some time to calm down and maybe relax a little after a very stressful day. 

When they were sure that Mark was out of ear shot, Jinyoung sighed and turned towards his husband. 

“What are we going to do?” Jaebeom asked before Jinyoung could ask those same words himself.   
“Well there is something that I need to talk to you about,” Jinyoung said. “But first I think you and I need a good strong cup of coffee.” 

Jaebeom couldn’t help but strongly agree with that. Around 5 minutes later they were both sat at the kitchen table once more with mugs of coffee, as ready as they would ever be to continue talking. 

“So what did you have to tell me?” Jaebeom asked, taking a long swig of the coffee and reveling in its warmth and comfort.   
“So I had come to the conclusion that it might be time for me to start working again,” Jinyoung began. “I want you to be able to do whatever you want to do with your producing and songwriting without worrying about being the only money earner in this family.”   
“Jinyoungie, you know I want anything that you want,” Jaebeom said softly, putting his mug down on the table and grabbing hold of his husband’s hand. “If you really want to work that’s perfectly fine with me, but you know I would go to a job that I hate every day for the rest of my life if it meant that you could continue to spend your spare time writing your mystery novels and having a moment of peace from our hectic family.” 

Jinyoung paused for a second before looking up at Jaebeom in shock. 

“Hyung…how did you know I was writing mystery novels?” Jinyoung asked slowly. 

Jaebeom laughed and squeezed the hand that he was holding. 

“I’ve known you since we were in high school,” Jaebeom said in reply. “Do you honestly think there is much that we don’t know about each other at this point?”   
“Have you read them?” Jinyoung asked.   
“No, I figured if you wanted me to read them, then you would show me,” Jaebeom said with a shrug. 

Jinyoung nodded, processing the fact that his supposed secret writing had been anything but. 

“We are getting off topic though, so you were looking for jobs?” Jaebeom asked.  
“Yes, and I applied to a couple on the off chance that somewhere was looking for someone with a teaching degree even several weeks into the school year,” Jinyoung continued. “One place reached out to me that one of their teachers suddenly had to move to another country for her husband’s job. I interviewed there last week while the kids were at school and you were at work. They reached out to me this morning to offer me the position.”   
“Congrats Jinyoungie!” Jaebeom said, launching himself out of his chair and hugging Jinyoung tightly.   
“Thanks, hyung,” Jinyoung replied with a smile. “So it’s actually a private school, Kindergarten through 12th grade. I would be teaching 10th grade English. It’s a really good school for academics and has a low student to teacher ratio so that the kids are well attended to.”   
“I feel like this is going somewhere,” Jaebeom said, cocking his head to the side in question.   
“Well during the 15 minutes that I was waiting for the kids to get out of school, I called up and asked about our kids, Mark in particular, attending. I explained the whole situation that he had just been through and they said that we would get majorly discounted tuition since I will be teaching there. They said they would allow Mark to do his two weeks of ISS where he would be given the work that he needs to catch up on, then he would transfer over to the school after that and start at the same place as the others in his grade. They assured me that the school would provide the structure that he needs, since they are much more strict with their students,” Jinyoung explained.   
“So you are thinking of transferring all of our kids there?” Jaebeom asked, taking another sip of his coffee.   
“Not necessarily,” Jinyoung said with a shrug. “I think Mark is a given, he needs to get away from those ‘friends’ of his and clearly needs the structure. The rest I don’t think so, at least not right away. I wouldn’t dream of telling Jackson that he has to leave Yoongi, Hoseok, and the dance team. Bambam and Yugyeom aren’t going to want to leave Jungkook, either. I suggest we give them the option, though. Youngjae isn’t as close with Jimin and Taehyung as the others are with their friends, probably because he is so shy. I’m not sure what he will pick.” 

Jaebeom nodded in agreement—it made sense to let their kids get the choice of what they wanted to do.

“So other than having him switch schools, what do you suggest we do with Mark?” Jaebeom asked with a sigh.   
“Isn’t this usually your area of expertise,” Jinyoung asked with a laugh. “You don’t have a powerpoint?” 

Jaebeom rolled his eyes. 

“You mock my powerpoints, and yet I still maintain they are quite effective,” Jaebeom answered.   
“Whatever gets you to sleep at night, hyung,” Jinyoung replied. 

—

Upstairs Mark hesitantly headed towards his shared room with Jackson. Despite what his parents said, he desperately need to talk to his brother. It wasn’t like he could get in any more trouble at this point.

Mark knocked softly on the door, waiting until he heard permission to open the door before entering. When he did, he found Jackson sitting at his desk working on his homework. Or at least that was what it seemed like at first, until he saw the Nintendo switch in his brother’s hands. 

“This is your room, too, why did you knock?” Jackson asked, butting down the game and turning his attention to his older brother. 

Mark shrugged awkwardly. 

“It didn’t feel right to barge in,” Mark replied, walking over and sitting down on his own bed. “Can we talk?” 

Jackson nodded, getting up from his desk chair and moving to sit on his own bed. It was going to be a difficult conversation, might as well be comfortable for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Jinyoung and Jaebeom have been put in a tough position of trying to figure out what to do with their misbehaving son :/ I'm sure Jaebeom's angry chin would be making lots of appearances as well as Jinyoung's disappointed face that they talk about in the Ask In a Box episode. Don't envy Mark that. Haha. I promise the next chapters are going to start to focus on some other emerging storylines, since Mark has taken up so much of the last few chapters. Namjoon and Seokjin also aren't going to believe what's coming for them :P


	14. The Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKSON WANG! He is literally the first person that got me into Kpop. Funny story, my friend had me watch Dream Knight and I thought it was hilariously bad, but was intrigued by the guys so I looked for more of their stuff and watched REAL Got7 which was on Netflix at the time. First episode I was already hooked by Jackson's personality. Then slowly fell in love with all of the members and all of their music. Then my same friend started to introduce me to more of BTS and I fell for my sunshine JHOOOOPE! So yes, if we want to get really technical me writing this fanfiction would not have happened without Jackson Wang being his adorable, loving, bubbly, sweet self. So Happy Birthday once more to my Jackson puppy :) 
> 
> Side note, to any of those that are keeping up on my drama in these. They have officially postponed the GOT7 Thailand show and I'm so happy. I was so stressed they were going to cancel it or that it would happen and I couldn't go. This is my first time ever having floor seats for a Got7 show and I really really really want it to happen because not only is it floor seats, it's Thailand. And let's be real, Got7 (cough BamBam cough) own Thailand :P

Chapter 14

Mark stared at the floor in front of him for a few moments before taking a deep breath and launching into a million apologies and the mess of the story as to what his life had been like the first year of middle school. Jackson, for his part, mostly sat there stunned. He felt like he was being bombarded with information which was so contrary to what he had always thought. Mark was one of the coolest people he knew. This couldn’t be true…right? 

“So yes, I am officially the worst brother on the planet earth,” Mark said softly, trying to hold back tears of guilt. “I never should have justified what they were doing to you and I can’t believe any one of them got physical with you. I want to vomit just thinking about it. Please tell me that was the first time.” 

Jackson got up off his own bed and hurried over to his brother’s. Sitting down next to him and putting his arm around him. 

“Yes, I swear to you,” Jackson replied. “This was absolutely the first time any one of them used anything other than words.”   
“It still doesn’t make it okay, but that’s good to hear,” Mark replied with a heavy sigh. “I can never even begin to express how sorry I am.”   
“I’m not going to say it’s okay,” Jackson said with a shrug. “Because really it’s not. But Mark, you sticking up for me today said more than an apology ever could. That was all I needed to see to forgive you and know that you can be my hyung again.” 

Mark stilled at the word ‘hyung’. He had been hearing so much over the last couple weeks as to what it meant to be a good ‘hyung’. 

“I promise that I’m going to do everything in my power to be the best hyung to you and all of our siblings,” Mark said, looking up into Jackson’s eyes to convey just how serious he was being.   
“After today you are probably going to have all the time in the world to do that,” Jackson couldn’t help but joke. 

Mark groaned in response, running his hands through his freshly washed hair. 

“I don’t think you even know the half of it,” Mark replied.   
“Wait, you did more than fighting and having pot on you?” Jackson asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion. 

Mark slumped back on his bed, pulling Jackson down with him before regaling the tale of the last couple weeks and all of the unfortunate truths that he had just had to share with their parents. 

“I take that back,” Jackson said. “They are just going to murder you instead.”   
“Unlikely,” a voice said from the doorway, startling Mark and Jackson into sitting up on the bed and seeing who had arrived—it was Jinyoung who had spoken with Jaebeom standing right over his shoulder. “We happen to like you a little too much for that.” 

Mark studied his dads for a moment before looking down at his hands and playing with the sleeves of his sweatshirt he had put on after the shower. 

“Have you come up with my punishment?” Mark asked.”Is it time for a family meeting?” 

Jaebeom and Jinyoung walked in and sat down on Jackson’s bed that he had abandoned to sit next to his brother. 

“Yes, we have,” Jaebeom replied. “But we were going to tell you before the family meeting.”   
“Jackson, will you give us a few moments of privacy?” Jinyoung asked, eyeing up the items on top of Jackson’s desk. “You can go do your homework that you clearly weren’t doing before.” 

Jackson groaned and moved to stand up, but Mark grabbed hold of his arm to keep him from leaving. 

“Can I please have him here?” Mark asked. “I might need moral support.”   
“Fine,” Jinyoung said with a shrug. “But you will be sitting and doing your homework at the kitchen table after.” 

Jackson nodded and made himself comfortable on the bed once more. 

—

Once Taehyung was sure that both Namjoon and Seokjin were out of earshot, he stood up and cleared his throat to get the attention of the entire group. They all looked up at him with various amounts of confusion on their faces—Jimin knew where this was going. 

“I would like to propose a plan,” Taehyung stated. “A plan to get our dads together.”   
“They are literally dating,” Yoongi replied, crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his head in question.   
“Yes, but they might as well be moving at the speed of a sloth,” Jimin piped in.   
“And why are you so invested in their relationship?” Hoseok couldn’t help but ask. “I like them together too, but isn’t this entirely up to them.”   
“They clearly love each other,” Taehyung explained. “We just want to help them get to the point where they are happy.”   
“Why aren’t they happy?” Jungkook asked.   
“It’s not that they aren’t happy,” Jimin said. “It’s that we want them to be together like Uncle Jinyoung and Uncle Jaebeom are.”   
“What is your plan?” Hoseok asked.   
“Phase one, we are going to overly compliment the other parent,” Taehyung piped in. “So in our cases, we are going to spend a lot of time talking about how great Uncle Namjoon is, and you guys talk about my dad.”   
“Won’t that just make them think they aren’t good enough as our dad?” Yoongi asked, very much skeptical of this plan.   
“We didn’t think of that…” Jimin admitted. “Well then step two was to get them together as much as possible. So like getting them to go to the park with us, but not telling them that other will be there. They will think it’s just fate.”   
“Or we could just ask to go to the park with you guys and we would be together anyway?” Hoseok asked, also mostly skeptical of this entire plan.   
“Is your entire job just to crap on our plan?” Taehyung asked, looking back and forth between Hoseok and Yoongi. 

Hoseok and Yoongi looked at each other and shrugged. 

“You just want to live with Jiminie hyung and not me. It’s not fair, you guys all get your friends and I don’t get mine,” Jungkook whined, closing the book he had been reading and running towards the stairs. 

“Is that why you want our dads together so much?” Yoongi asked Jimin and Taehyung.   
“I admit it would be nice to live with Taetae…” Jimin replied softly. 

Hoseok rolled his eyes. 

“Guys, if it is going to happen, it will happen,” Hoseok said, before turning to Yoongi. “We should go check on Kookie and then let’s do our homework in your room.” 

Yoongi nodded and the two left, leaving Jimin and Taehyung alone around the coffee table. 

“Well it looks like this is just going to be us doing the plan,” Jimin spoke after a couple minutes of silence. “They might not see it yet, but we are all going to be so much happier when they are together.” 

Taehyung nodded in agreement. Not ALL of their reasons for wanting their dads together were selfish—right? 

— 

Grounded until Christmas. Extra chores. No friends, no video games, no fun. (Not exactly what his parents had said, but it was the essence of his punishment.) 

“You will be going to the DARE classes that your school is requiring you to go to,” Jaebeom continued, before being interrupted.   
“But I swear that I was just going to get rid of it,” Mark said with a groan. DARE was a drug and alcohol awareness program that was for kids. He had taken it in 7th grade, and didn’t really want to go to the additional classes that his school was asking of him.   
“And we believe you,” Jinyoung replied. “But within the last couple weeks you have not only come home drunk, you also have been caught with pot. It’s not like the classes are going to hurt you. Besides, your school is asking you to do it, so it’s not like there is anything we can do.”   
“You are making me switch schools anyway!” Mark argued—because oh yeah, how could he forget he was also being made to go to a private school now. 

Mark wasn’t overly upset about switching schools, if he were going to be honest. It wasn’t like he could hang out with his ‘friends’ at his old school anyway. He came to realize just how terrible of friends they were. If he was going to start his friend group from scratch, he might as well do it at a brand new school where no one knew him or his family. 

“Not as a way for you to get out of the consequences from your old school though,” Jaebeom reminded. “You are still doing your two weeks of ISS and you are still doing the DARE program. No amount of protest is going to change our mind on that.” 

Mark didn’t have any doubt that this was true. His dad was one of the most stubborn people he knew, especially when it came to rules and consequences. The only thing he could do was nod his understanding. 

“In addition…” Jaebeom began but got cut off.   
“There’s more?” Mark asked flopping back down on the bed, wanting to pull his hair out—why did he having to have such strict parents. Loving—without a doubt, but damn were they strict.   
“Just one more thing, we promise,” Jinyoung said, getting up off the bed and walking over to sit down on the side of Mark that Jackson wasn’t occupying. 

Jinyoung pulled Mark to sit back up, leaning his body against his own. This allowed Jinyoung to reach up and run his hands through Mark’s hair. 

“The DARE program is two lessons and after that is over you are going to write us an essay on what you learned in your classes, as well as a separate essay on why lying is bad and what you should have done about your grades in the first place,” Jaebeom explained.   
“I have to be the only kid on this planet that has parents that give him homework,” Mark mumbled into his appa’s shoulder where he was leaning, enjoying the feeling of his appa’s hand in his hair.   
“That’s not at all true,” Jinyoung replied, and then continued when Mark looked up at him in question. “You have four siblings.” 

Jackson couldn’t help but burst out laughing at his appa’s joke, while Mark just rolled his eyes. Jaebeom also got up and made his way over to Mark’s very much overly crowded bed. Jackson moved over a little bit so that Jaebeom could sit next to Mark. Jaebeom reached out and lifted Mark’s chin up so that he was looking directly into his eldest son’s eyes. 

“I know it seems like a lot,” Jaebeom said. “But I promise your appa and I just want the best for you. We know this isn’t you living up to your full potential and we are going to help you see your mistakes and move on from them.” 

—

Namjoon watched Seokjin work in the kitchen, chopping up vegetables, frying eggs, stirring sauces. It was truly a site to see. Seokjin was clearly in his element here, seeming relaxed and in control of everything from start to finish. Namjoon had to admit that it was super hot to get to see Seokjin like this. He seemed so passionate. 

Seokjin looked up from his cooking to see Namjoon staring at him with literal heart eyes. He couldn’t help but chuckle. 

“See something you like Joonie?” Seokjin asked. 

Namjoon jolted out of his trance, blushing a little at being caught staring at Seokjin. 

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Namjoon replied, trying to sound sly and put together. “I can’t believe I was so dumb to ever let you go.” 

Seokjin chuckled to himself, resuming his cooking. 

“You’re not so bad yourself, hot stuff,” Seokjin replied. “I was equally as dumb to let ‘the rapper of the century’—Yoongi’s words—go. I have to get one of your kids to look up to me as much as Yoongi looks up to you. We need to be on somewhat equal footing here.”   
“Both of my kids already adore you,” Namjoon replied. “I’ve literally already got Hoseok’s permission to marry you.”   
“You asked your kids about marriage already?” Seokjin asked, pausing in his cooking to look up at Namjoon in shock.   
“No, I asked if they were okay with me dating you and Hoseok way jumped the gun,” Namjoon replied. 

Seokjin nodded in relief. They had said they were going to go slow, after all. He was afraid he and Namjoon were on completely different pages here. 

“So it’s my turn to take you out on a date, since you planned the last one,” Seokjin piped in. “If you are free at all Friday night, there is this wine and painting event one of my friends is hosting.”   
“Just a warning, I’m terrible at painting,” Namjoon pointed out.   
“As am I,” Seokjin replied with a laugh. “That’s what the wine is for.”   
“Yeah, Friday should work,” Namjoon replied. “I should be able to get a baby sitter for the night.”   
“I was thinking maybe we get all the kids together, buy them a pizza and have them watch a movie,” Seokjin suggested. “Between Yoongi and Hoseok, there shouldn’t be too much of a problem. It’s time I allow Yoongi to start taking on more responsibility.” 

Namjoon nodded. That made sense. 

“We could even turn it into a sleepover,” Seokjin suggested.   
“Are you suggesting that I spend the night as well?” Namjoon asked. “Or are you going to take on 5 kids on your own?”   
“Of course you would spend the night dummy,” Seokjin said rolling his eyes, but then stopped and thought for a few moments before sighing.   
“What?”   
“Jungkook is going to complain about his brothers having their friends when he doesn’t have Bambam or Yugyeom,” Seokjin added in. “I don’t want him to feel left out, but at the same time he has to get used to the fact that he is the only one his age if things are to move forward.”   
“I will have a talk with my boys about doing a better job of making him feel included,” Namjoon said.   
“I’ll have the same talk with mine,” Seokjin said in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well hope you guys enjoyed! It sucks to be Mark right now, but he has to reap what he sowed. What are we thinking about Jiminie and Tae's little plan there, and their lack of support from literally anyone. (And no, that's not the major thing that is coming for Joon and Jin hehe although there have been a couple hints here and there throughout the story). Let me know what you guys think and hope you are all healthy and safe :)


	15. The Evening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! It has been way longer than I thought, but we finally have an update. Things are certainly not back to normal yet here in Korea, as we still don't have our kids back at school. However, I'm working the full 9-5 M-F thing again so I don't have nearly as much time on my hands. Sorry it took so long to get this chapter to you. I was going to work on it this past weekend, but I like many of you (probably) am trash for BTS and watched 24 hours of BTS concerts called BangBangCon :P what a fun trip down memory lane that was. Plus, I also had to multitask and go on dates with Bam and Jackson during the concerts. I seriously had my phone of vLive and my computer on the concerts lol. One last thing to talk about: holy crap Got7's comeback. I'm obsessed. It's so good. I'm so proud of my boys :) :) :) Please stream Not By the Moon and if you haven't listen to all of DYE!!!

Chapter 15

Namjoon and Seokjin had the entire evening to themselves. When Jinyoung found out their plan to go on a date on Friday, he insisted that all 5 kids come and spend the night at the Im/Park household. He said that they should be able to come back to an empty house and continue their evening, whatever else it may entail. The wink wink was very much implied in his tone of voice. In fact, Seokjin was pretty sure he could almost hear the smirk on the man’s face while they were on the phone. Namjoon and Seokjin were reassured multiple times by both Jinyoung and Jaebeom that it would be absolutely no problem to have 10 kids in their home. 

They set out for their wine and paint evening, feeling on a high. It was within walking distance of Namjoon’s home, so they decided they would meet there and walk together. This meant they didn’t have too worry about consuming too much alcohol and having to call a cab to get home. 

“So how do you know this friend?” Namjoon asked, as they walked along the sidewalk—their hands brushing occasionally while they swung by their sides.   
“He actually used to be on my staff,” Seokjin replied, deciding to reach out and clasp Namjoon’s hand in his own. “We worked together for about 4 years before he decided to switch career paths and become an art teacher at the local high school. I have to say, he is happier than I have ever seen him before. He met the love of his life, a lovely women in the Math department and they now have their first child together.”   
“I love hearing about people following their passion,” Namjoon replied, reveling in the warmth of Seokjin’s hand that was now gripping his own. “If there is anything that I want to be able to instill in my kids, it’s that life isn’t worth living if you don’t have something that you truly want to put your heart and soul into. It doesn’t even have to be your career, it can be a hobby. But there has to be something that gets you out of bed in the morning, or you aren’t truly living.”   
“I think a lot of people struggle with that,” Seokjin mused. “I think not everyone can find that fire.”   
“True,” Namjoon replied, thinking for a moment. “But I think more people are afraid to fail, so they let their fire dim and then think they can’t find it.” 

Seokjin paused in their walking for a moment and stared deeply at Namjoon. 

“What?” Namjoon asked.   
“I didn’t realize how much I missed your deep and analytical view of the world,” Seokjin replied, resuming their stroll. “You truly do have a way with words, Kim Namjoon.”   
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Namjoon said with a chuckle, swinging their linked arms between them. “It is kind of my job as a musician to touch people with my music and my lyrics.”   
“There is nothing hotter than a man who can express his feelings through a song,” Seokjin stated.   
“You always said the only thing I was missing was a guitar and I’d be your ideal type,” Namjoon reminisced.   
“I suppose I’ll take you, even with out the guitar,” Seokjin jested. 

They walked up to the art studio, opening the doors and seeing that several of the tables were already taken. They headed to the side of the room, greeting Seokjin’s friend on the way, to claim one of the last vacant spots. It was a table close to the bar, and Seokjin and Namjoon quickly got themselves their first drinks of the evening. 

—

Over at the Im/Park residence the kids were mostly in the basement playing an intense game of Mario Kart. There were lots of screams of joy and yells of frustration that could be heard all throughout the house—even in the kitchen where Jaebeom, Jinyoung and Mark were working on dinner. 

“So how was school today, Mark?” Jaebeom asked, while stirring the pot in front of him. He was making a very delicious smelling kimchi jjigae.   
“Thrilling,” Mark replied with a sigh from where he was washing the rice. “Why couldn’t I be suspended at home? It beats the four boring walls of the room they are making me do my school work in.” 

Mark was finding that in-school-suspension was not at all fun. He reported to the main office first thing in the morning, where he remained in a small conference room with just a table and some chairs for the entire day. He did his school work alone in there, ate lunch with the staff members from the office in there, and then continued his school work alone in there. If it weren’t for the fact that staff members checked in very frequently, and that his parents checked to see what work he accomplished each day, he would be so tempted just to take a nice long nap. 

“How is the school work going?” Jinyoung asked, slicing the cucumbers he was going to put in a salad—of course, he would make a separate bowl for Youngjae without cucumbers because the boy had an unusual hatred for them. “Are you finding anything too difficult?”   
“No, it’s all fine,” Mark said with a shrug and then admitted. “It wasn’t that I didn’t understand the information before, I just wasn’t trying.”   
“We know,” Jaebeom said, walking behind his son and ruffling his hair. “So, you can see why we need to be hard on you about it, you weren’t living up to your potential.” 

Mark heard warning bells at that sentence, knowing it was time to switch topics before his dad decided to start on another lecture. 

“So appa, are you excited to start your new job on Monday?” Mark asked, pressing the button on the rice cooker to start it.  
“Yeah, it will be weird to be back to work for the first time in a very long time,” Jinyoung replied. “Hopefully I’m not too rusty.”   
“What made you decide to go back to work?” Mark asked, walking over to his appa and picking up the carrots to start chopping them.   
“It just seemed like the right time,” Jinyoung replied. “You guys are old enough now to take on more responsibilities around the house. Plus, I keep trying to get your dad here to do something about his work. He needs to be able to have the creative freedom that he desires.”   
“You would be so much cooler if you worked at the same label as someone like Rap Monster,” Mark replied absentmindedly.

Jaebeom scoffed and rolled his eyes at the comment. Then stopped and pondered his son’s words for a moment. He had never really thought about that before…

— 

Seokjin and Namjoon were certainly tipsy as they started the walk back to Namjoon’s house. The painting night had been a lot of fun. Neither was sure whose skills were worse, but that was half the fun of it. Namjoon didn’t know the last time that he had felt that free and that like himself. 

“I think the moral of the story is that we should both stick to our day jobs,” Seokjin said with a laugh, wrapping his arm around Namjoon and pulling him close.  
“Awe man, I was so ready to quit my day job and open my own art studio,” Namjoon replied with a pout. “Way to crush all of my dreams.”   
“Your lack of art skills are crushing your dreams, not me,” Seokjin retorted. 

The two stumbled up to the doorway, Namjoon pulling his keys out of his pocket and unlocking the door—only fumbling with it once. 

“I have some more wine waiting for us,” Namjoon said, tossing his keys into the basket on the hall table. “As well as an assortment of fruit.”   
“That sounds lovely,” Seokjin said, gently slipping off his shoes and placing them by the front door. 

Namjoon had set up some candles in the living room that he quickly lit, before running to the kitchen to grab the wine and fruit. He placed it on the coffee table in front of the couch, sitting down next to Seokjin and grabbing the cashmere blanket that was draped over the back of the couch. Fall was starting to set in, and with it the nights were much cooler than they previously had been—the summer humidity quickly fading. Namjoon placed the blanket gently over the two of them and then scooted closer to Seokjin so that the sides of their thighs were touching. 

“You’ve suddenly become a hopeless romantic haven’t you?” Seokjin asked, looking around at the candles and the flowers that Namjoon had set up.   
“I was always romantic, what are you talking about?” Namjoon asked, clutching his chest in offense.   
“Your idea of a romantic evening was sitting on the floor of your dorm room and eating out of Chinese takeout boxes with cheap beer,” Seokjin rebutted. “Wine and a fruit platter was certainly not the Kim Namjoon special.” 

Namjoon couldn’t help but chuckle in remembrance. Those had been some good times. He had nothing but fond memories of those nights on his dorm floor. 

“You loved it, don’t lie,” Namjoon accused. 

Seokjin shrugged. 

“I was 22, my tastes weren’t nearly developed yet,” Seokjin said with a laugh.  
“You were dating me, you clearly had taste,” Namjoon replied, sticking his tongue out like a child setting Seokjin into a laughing fit.

Namjoon couldn’t help but stare at the way that Seokjin laughed. His eyes shut and became small slits. He particularly liked when his nose would crinkle with his wide smile. Namjoon leaned forward and placed his hand on the back of Seokjin’s head pulling him in for a kiss. The kiss started out gentle and soft, but quickly turned much more raw and full of passion. Seokjin shifted on the couch so he was turned to learn against the arm, laying back on it with Namjoon leaning over him. Their lips felt like they were battling for dominance, rushed and trying to make up for all of their lost time. Namjoon pulled back for a moment, causing Seokjin to let out a small whine at the loss of their close contact. 

“I just want to ask you now before we get too hot and heavy what you want to do,” Namjoon reasoned. “I don’t want to accidentally go too far with you.” 

Seokjin couldn’t help but chuckle, sitting back up on the couch properly and grabbing a grape from the fruit tray. 

“You make me sound like I’m a blushing virgin, Joonie,” Seokjin said, popping the grape into his mouth. “But I very much appreciate your concern.”

Seokjin leaned over and pecked Namjoon on the lips. 

“I think you and I need to have a conversation that we’ve mostly been avoiding before we take this any further,” Seokjin continued. “However, I don’t want to ruin this evening by rehashing the past. So maybe sex should be off the table for this evening, despite how much I wish it weren’t.” 

Namjoon nodded in agreement. They had mentioned their breakup of course, even said how much they regretted it, but they hadn’t really talked about why it happened and how they could avoid it again in the future. Seokjin was right, they shouldn’t get intimate like that before discussing it. 

“But there are a lot of fun things that we can do that aren’t sex,” Seokjin replied with a smirk, this time pushing Namjoon so he was leaning against the other arm of the couch. 

Seokjin grabbed both of Namjoon’s hands, pulling them over his head and leaned down to continue where they had left off. Yes, they could have lots of fun without physically having sex. 

— 

Dinner had been a loud affair at the Im/Park household. Ten kids was a heck of a lot to handle, but Jaebeom and Jinyoung handled it as well as any. Before they knew it, the table had been cleared and the kids were sent to get into their pajamas. They were going to have ice cream in the basement and watch a movie together. Mark was once again on kitchen duty, this time rinsing all of the dishes from dinner and putting them into the dishwasher. 

“I understand this is my punishment and all,” Mark said with a sigh. “But isn’t this letting the rest of my brothers off too easy?” “They have their friends over,” Jaebeom replied from the counter where he was sipping his cup of coffee. “It’s not like we have given all of their chores to you.”   
“Besides, we are letting you watch the movie with them and spend the night downstairs,” Jinyoung replied, putting down his phone and picking up his own cup of coffee to take a sip as well. 

Mark shifted awkwardly at that, unsure of how to say to his parents that he would really rather not. 

“What’s wrong?” Jaebeom asked, noticing immediately that Mark was having an adverse reaction. “I thought you and Jackson made up?”   
“No, we did,” Mark replied. “It’s more Yoongi I’m concerned about, I did lie to you guys about doing school work with him—which, unfortunately he is well aware of. He also witnessed some of the verbal abuse that my friends threw at Jackson as well as him and Hoseok. Let’s just say, I don’t think Yoongi is my biggest fan.”   
“Then this is the perfect moment to prove to him that you aren’t like that anymore and that you are going to be a better person,” Jinyoung replied. “Take this time to apologize to him. I’m sure he would appreciate it.” 

Mark groaned, but nodded. That was all he seemed to be doing lately—apologizing for his mistakes. He should be used to it at this point. Hopefully Yoongi wouldn’t be too upset still…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said we were going to focus on other storylines, and I promise we will, but Mark just keeps drawing me in. He is going through an interesting time right now. And my dear sweet Namjin. Avoiding the conversation once more. They can only put it off for so long though. It must happen. We also have only just begun to see the YugBamKook drama in previous chapters. I promise this will be coming soon...


	16. Favorites

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Hope you are all doing well! Sorry it's been almost a month since my last chapter. I don't know why this one was so hard to write. It is more of a fluffy filler chapter, tbh. The lead up to more things to come. Hope you enjoy :)

Chapter 16

Mark hesitated a moment before descending the staircase into the basement of their house. He could hear the chatter and the loud laughter of the occupants below, especially the bellowing laugh of his younger brother Youngjae. Mark’s palms felt a little clam-y and his heart felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest. He didn’t know why this almost felt worse than when he had to face his dad and his appa. It was just Yoongi—though, admittedly Yoongi could be very intimidating. Still they were the same exact age. He could do this. 

“Erm—Yoongi, can I talk to you for a moment?” Mark asked, and then continued when Jackson and Hoseok looked at him in curiosity. “Alone.” 

Yoongi shrugged, giving a quick nod before getting up to follow Mark into Jaebeom’s downstairs studio. Mark knew that as long as neither one of them touched anything, his dad wouldn’t mind that they were using the studio to talk. 

“Holy crap! This is incredible!” Yoongi said, breaking his silence upon walking into the studio and seeing the soundboard, the microphones, the keyboards etc. It was an aspiring producer’s dream. 

Mark looked around, taking everything in through a new perspective. To him it was the same old same old, he had grown up seeing it. His dad was a producer long before he or the rest of his siblings had been adopted, Mark knew nothing else. 

“Er—yeah, I guess it is,” Mark replied, figuring this must be something cool to someone who hadn’t grown up with it. “Listen, I wanted to apologize to you for my behavior over the last…well for as long as we’ve known each other to be honest.”

Yoongi stopped his amazed looking around of the studio, deciding to sit down on the couch and give Mark his full attention. 

“Go on,” Yoongi said with a nod.   
“I know that you think horribly of me, and I don’t blame you,” Mark continued. “Nothing can justify what I let slide with my so-called friends, there was just a lot that happened before you came to the school.” 

Mark went silent, playing with his hands—waiting to see if Yoongi would give any response. 

“You know, you do have to say the words for it to be an actual apology,” Yoongi said after a few moments of silence. 

Mark’s head snapped up to look at Yoongi. The boy seemed slightly…amused? 

“I’m sorry,” Mark said softly. “I’m sorry I was being an ass, to you, to Hoseok, and most especially my brother. I’m sorry I used you as part of my lie to my parents to get out of going home right away after school. I’m sorry that I was a terrible partner on our group project. And most importantly I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you about my grades coming to bite me in the butt or what it meant to be a good brother.” 

Yoongi sat there silently for a moment, nodding at the words. 

“I will forgive you, but I’m not going to forget it,” Yoongi finally said. “Jackson is such an amazing person and didn’t deserve to be treated like that. You are going to have to go a long way to prove that you actually mean what you say, but I will admit standing up to your friends like that was a very good start.” 

Mark sighed in relief. For a second there he honestly didn’t know if Yoongi wasn’t going to just flip him off and call it a day. It was such a relief to know that he had Yoongi’s somewhat reluctant approval for the moment at least. Mark looked over to Yoongi once more, realizing the slightly older boy was looking around in amazement again. 

“So, you told your parents that you and I weren’t actually working after school?” Yoongi asked, taking a break from his admiration of the home studio to give his attention to Mark once more.  
“Yeah, they know everything. I had to give a written confession of all of the things I did that we then went over in excruciating detail,” Mark replied with a sigh. “It was far from a pleasant evening in my home that night.”   
“I can imagine,” Yoongi sympathized—picturing just how upset his own father would be. “Jackson said that they really came down on you hard. You’re grounded for something like three months, right?” 

Mark sighed and gave a nod before reluctantly adding. 

“I deserved it, though,” Mark admitted. “I should have been well aware that everything I was doing was going to be coming back to bite me. If only I had someone to warn me.” 

Yoongi smiled at the tease, thinking back on what he had said to the other boy. It was a shame that Mark was only truly taking his words into account after he had everything blow up in his face. 

Knock-knock. 

Both boys turned to look at the door of the studio, which opened to reveal Jaebeom.

“Just wanted to make sure the two of you hadn’t killed each other,” Jaebeom joked. “And also see if you guys are coming to watch the movie. The little ones are getting impatient.”   
“Yugyeom and Bambam would hate you for calling them ‘little ones’” Mark pointed out.   
“They will always be my babies,” Jaebeom said with a shrug.   
“But yes, we worked things out,” Mark added, giving a soft smile to Yoongi who nodded his agreement, standing up from the couch.   
“Uncle Jaebeom, your studio is incredible!” Yoongi gushed. “Is there any way you could show me around some time? I really want to be a producer like you and Uncle Namjoon. As well as a rapper.”   
“I would love to!” Jaebeom exclaimed, his eyes lighting up and his whole body almost vibrating in excitement. “It’s my pride and joy. I would show you around now, but I know we would have protests from the others about delaying their movies, so another time.” 

Yoongi nodded excitedly, following out of the studio behind Mark and then Jaebeom. 

— 

Namjoon and Seokjin walked hand in hand into Namjoon’s bedroom. They had spend the last hour and a half making out, chatting, and snacking on wine and cheese. Both of them were certainly feeling the alcohol at this point, and decided that it was time to finally retire to the bedroom. Seokjin paused in his walking towards the bed, stopping to stare at what was laying on the pillow. It was a bar of his favorite Swiss chocolate that he kept a secret stash of in his home. 

“Joonie,” Seokjin exhaled in shock, turning to look at the other man. “How did you know that was my favorite chocolate and where did you find it?”   
“What?” Namjoon asked, looking around in confusion and then finally glancing at the aforementioned chocolate on his bed. “Erm…would you believe me if I said I didn’t?”   
“If you didn’t then who did?” Seokjin asked in confusion. “It’s not an easy chocolate to get, it’s only sold in a select few locations in Switzerland.” 

Namjoon pondered the question for a moment before slowly turning towards Seokjin and giving him a warm smile. 

“I have a theory,” Namjoon stated, causing Seokjin to cock his head in askance. “Our kids worked together. Did you have any in your home?”   
“Well yeah, but I thought it was hidden…” Seokjin said trailing off at the end of the sentence. “That would make sense, though. I think Taehyung probably knows every single place to hide something in our house. Whenever he gets old enough to have a cell phone and I have to take it away from him, I’m going to have to get a lock.”   
“Then my guess is Taehyung gave it to Jimin,” Namjoon explained.   
“But why?” Seokjin asked.   
“Something we will have to ask the kids,” Namjoon replied with a shrug. “But to be fair, it’s a harmless gesture that you clearly enjoyed.”   
“It was romantic thinking you somehow found my favorite chocolate and surprised me with it,” Seokjin admitted. 

Namjoon smiled and leaned down to pull Seokjin into a quick chaste kiss. 

“And next time I’m in Europe for a gig, I will keep that in mind,” Namjoon said, leaning down to peck him once more. “Now I don’t know about you, but that bed sure as hell looks inviting.” 

Seokjin nodded, allowing himself to be pulled towards the bed once more. He quickly discarded all of his clothes but his boxers—Namjoon following suit—and pulled the covers back to lay down. Namjoon slotted himself in bed right behind Seokjin, his arms reaching around him and pulling him in close. Seokjin had missed this. 

Seokjin awoke the next morning feeling safe and secure, basking in the warmth of the body wrapped around his. Namjoon still smelled the same as he had back when they were cuddling in small dorm room beds. It made Seokjin flash back to a time when things had been decidedly simpler.

“Good morning,” Namjoon’s groggy and gruff morning voice spoke from behind him, very much close to his ear and causing shivers to run down Seokjin’s spine.   
“Good morning to you too,” Seokjin said, rolling over so he could take in the sight that was a sleep rumpled Kim Namjoon. 

It was just as endearing as Seokjin remembered it being. 

— 

An hour later found Seokjin and Namjoon walking through the front door of the Im/Park residence. They had stopped by the donut shop on the way over, picking up a couple dozen donuts and coffee for themselves, Jinyoung, and Jaebeom. Jaebeom had been the one to answer the door, very gratefully accepting the cup of coffee that was handed to him. 

“Don’t worry, your kids were absolute angels last night,” Jaebeom informed them as they walked down the hallway and towards the kitchen. 

They walked into the kitchen to see Mark sat at the kitchen counter working hard at what appeared to be homework. 

“He lives!” Seokjin exclaimed dramatically. “See we told you that your dad and your appa wouldn’t kill you.” 

Mark put his pen down and looked up at Namjoon and Seokjin with a smile. 

“Kill me? No. Ground me for life? Yes.” Mark replied, earning chuckles from Namjoon and Seokjin and a scoff from Jaebeom. “It’s good to see you again Uncle Namjoon and Uncle Seokjin. Thanks again for the other day, you really helped me clear my head.”   
“Glad we could be of service,” Namjoon said, sitting down next to the teen at the counter. “What are you working on at 9am on a Saturday? Is it school work?”   
“You would think,” Mark said with a groan. “But no, I’ve been assigned not one but TWO essays from my parents. This is the one about lying and how I should have handled the situation about my grades.”   
“I’m impressed you can even think at this hour,” Seokjin said, sitting down on the other side of Mark and taking a long swig of his coffee.   
“It’s certainly not ideal but as my dad says: sleeping in is a privilege and not a right,” Mark replied with a sigh. 

Namjoon and Seokjin couldn’t help but burst out laughing as they made eye contact with each other. They then turned to Jaebeom who was already eyeing up the donuts that had been put down on the table. Jaebeom seemed to lose most awareness of the surrounding world when food was placed in front of him. 

“Where do you even come up with these?” Namjoon asked, causing Jaebeom to look up at them confused because he hadn’t been paying attention.   
“I swear he has some secret book he gets them from,” Jinyoung said, walking into the room from the door to the basement—he had been downstairs getting the rest of the kids up. “The kids should be up momentarily. Mark, why don’t you put your work on my desk so that it doesn’t end up with frosting and sprinkles on it.” 

Mark nodded and did as he was told, not wanting to have to rewrite any part of the dumb essay. It wasn’t even a minute later that Bambam, Yugyeom, and Jungkook were tearing up the stairs in a race to get to their donuts. 

“We are going to regret giving them sugar, aren’t we?” Seokjin asked with a sigh.   
“But for today, we get to be the cool parents,” Jinyoung pointed out, biting into his own maple frosted donut. 

A few moments later Jimin, Youngjae and Taehyung also made an appearance with Hoseok, Jackson and Yoongi trailing behind them. 

“Did you guys stay up too late playing video games?” Namjoon asked, noticing the very tired looks on the three eldest.   
“No,” Hoseok replied, stifling a yawn. “We were honestly up talking. We did it in the studio so the rest of the kids wouldn’t be kept awake.”   
“That’s my responsible Hobi,” Namjoon said with a smile, kissing his eldest on top of his head. 

Jungkook, Yugyeom and Bambam had taken their donuts into the living room, spreading out on the floor around the coffee table. 

“Do you remember the time that Dennis got that walnut stuck up his nose?” Yugyeom asked while playing with the sprinkles on his donut.   
“Yes! That was so funny!” Jungkook replied. “He thought he was going to have to live with it there forever!”   
“Mrs. Moore was so panicked!” Yugyeom replied. “She is such a cool teacher, though. I like her.”   
“Yeah I think she is the best home room teacher to have,” Jungkook agreed.   
“I mean…mine isn’t bad either,” Bambam said with a shrug.   
“I wish you were in our class. It would be so much more fun,” Jungkook replied. “Do you like your class though?”   
“Er—yeah, it’s fine,” Bambam replied with a shrug, before changing the topic. “Hey Gyeom, do you remember the time dad slipped on the banana peel?” 

The conversation successfully changed to hysterical family moments. Bambam relaxed a little, happy with its trajectory. 

In the kitchen Yoongi, Hoseok and Jackson had taken up spots at the table. 

“Dad! Uncle Jaebeom said that he would give me a tour of his home studio!” Yoongi exclaimed. “You should see it, it’s so cool! He has all this equipment. It’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of.”   
“That’s great!” Seokjin replied, turning and mouthing his thanks to Jaebeom who just nodded with a smile.   
“So how is the dance team going?” Namjoon asked, pulling out a chair and sitting down at the kitchen table along with Seokjin.   
“It’s so great!” Jackson exclaimed. “I still think Yoongi hyung should join it with us. It’s a lot of fun.”   
“I would pay to see Yoongi hyung dance,” Hoseok added.   
“As would I,” Seokjin said with a chuckle.   
“Not going to happen,” Yoongi said, rolling his eyes. “I want to be a producer, not a dancer.”   
“There is no shame in being both,” Jaebeom added from his seat at the counter next to Mark. “I used to be a b-boy back in my teenage years.”   
“No way!” Hoseok exclaimed, his eyes going wide. “Do you still have moves? Can you show them to me?”   
“I would be more than happy to show you what I’m still able to do,” Jaebeom replied, causing Jinyoung to sigh on the other side of Mark.   
“The last time he showed someone his moves he hurt his back and whined from the couch all week,” Jinyoung added in. “I think we have some videos of him from his b-boy days, which will have to suffice.”   
“Were you ever a dancer, Uncle Jinyoung?” Hoseok asked.   
“I was,” Jinyoung replied. “I actually met my husband through dance when we were super young.”   
“How long have you guys been together?” Yoongi asked.  
“We’ve been married for 16 years,” Jinyoung answered. “But we’ve been dating on and off since we were maybe 14 or 15.”   
“That’s so romantic!” Hoseok squealed. “I hope to find someone that I’m together with for that long.”   
“Just please don’t be as lame as they are,” Jackson couldn’t help but add in. “I swear I’ve never seen anyone else’s parents be as cheesy and all over each other like mine are.”   
“We are not lame!” Jinyoung and Jaebeom exclaimed at the same time.   
“You kind of are,” Mark replied from his spot in the middle of his parents.   
“You would think it would be in your best interest to suck up to the people who control how long you are grounded for,” Jinyoung pointed out.   
“And I would if I thought it would make any amount of difference,” Mark replied, rolling his eyes. “You’ve met my dad. I could create a shrine to him and he would still be unmoved.”   
“That’s true,” Youngjae said from where he was picking up his second donut before going back to the living room to join Taehyung and Jimin once more.   
“See even your sweet angel Youngjae knows it!” Jackson pointed out. “And we all know he is your favorite.”   
“We do not have favorites!” Jaebeom and Jinyoung simultaneously protested.   
“You really do, but isn’t Youngjae all of our favorite, though?” Mark asked, earning a of nod of agreement from Jackson.   
“Jimin is my dad’s favorite,” Hoseok added on, sticking his tongue out at his dad in jest.   
“I love you both equally!” Namjoon protested.  
“Then why does Jimin get away with more?” Hoseok asked.   
“The kid does look like an angel and he has perfected his puppy dog pout,” Seokjin pointed out. “But I know your dad very well, and he loves you both equally.”   
“This is what I missed out on by being an only child, isn’t it?” Jaebeom asked realizing he was the solo only child in the room.   
“Namjoon and I can be your pseudo-siblings,” Seokjin offered.   
“We can fight over who you think is the favorite any time you want,” Namjoon added.   
“I don’t know what we are talking about,” Bambam said, walking in with Yugyeom and Jungkook trailing behind him. “But if it’s favorite in the family, it’s obviously Youngjae hyung.”   
“But Youngjae hyung is the best, so I can’t blame them,” Yugyeom added. 

Jaebeom and Jinyoung rolled their eyes. Why did they want so many kids again? 

“Like I said,” Mark pointed out, gesturing to his two brothers. “Everyone’s favorite is Youngjae.” 

Speaking of Youngjae, he was in the living room with Jimin and Taehyung getting an update on their ‘Operation: Get Our Parents Married’ 

“I’m sure Uncle Seokjin thought it was really sweet!” Youngjae exclaimed when he heard about the chocolate. “It sounds like Uncle Seokjin likes food just as much as my dad does.”   
“I had to climb on top of the counter to get the chocolate from on top of the fridge,” Taehyung explained. “I can’t believe my dad thinks it’s hidden from us. I know every spot in our house.” 

Youngjae somehow didn’t doubt that. 

“Do you think they will realize that it was you two?” Youngjae asked.   
“My dad is super smart, it probably didn’t take long for him to figure it out,” Jimin replied. “I’m hoping he just went along with it and didn’t tell Uncle Seokjin the truth. It’s much more romantic if Uncle Seokjin thinks that my dad did it.”   
“So what’s your next plan?” Youngjae asked. “You can’t repeat the same move twice, right?”   
“I suggested we write letters to them and sign them from anonymous, but Jimin thinks it’s a bad idea,” Taehyung said.   
“They are going to recognize our handwriting!” Jimin exclaimed.   
“I could write them for you if you want,” Youngjae suggested.

He didn’t know if the plan was actually a good idea, but he liked to be involved in something. It made him feel included.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh, Vmin dragging sweet Youngjae into their plans :P Up next: Namjoon and Jaebeom discussing work, Mark going to a new school, and someone not happy that things are getting serious with his dad...


	17. Surprises All Around

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm back! Hope everyone is doing okay and is staying safe and healthy. Even though it's summer weather here, our cases still can't seem to stop. It's been hovering between like 30s and 70s per day, and mostly is now in the city I live in :( Hopefully over the next couple weeks things will turn around.

Chapter 17 

After breakfast was finished, Jaebeom asked Namjoon if he could have a private word with the man for a few moments. Jaebeom led the two of them down to his home studio, gesturing for Namjoon to sit on the couch once they arrived. 

“So what did you want to talk about?” Namjoon asked, getting settled on the couch and turning his attention to the slightly older male who had taken a seat on the desk chair in front of the computer.   
“Well recently I have been getting fed up with the way things are run at the record company that I work for. I’m not allowed the creative freedom that I want. Jinyoung has decided to take up a full time job to allow me to pursue other work avenues,” Jaebeom explained. “I was wondering if you would be interested in giving me some advice and working on the side with me. I’m thinking of maybe opening my own label.” 

Namjoon pondered the words for a moment, trying to keep his expression from getting to be too excited. 

“You are really going to do it? You are going to branch out on your own?” Namjoon exclaimed.   
“Yes, I plan on it,” Jaebeom replied. “I know it’s a massive risk, but I think I can make it work. I know more than enough about how most aspects of a label are run at this point. Would you be interested?”   
“I have another proposition for you,” Namjoon countered. “If you can wait one month for my current contract to end, I would love to start a label with you.” 

Jaebeom froze in shock for a moment. 

“Are you serious?” Jaebeom asked. “You would really leave the security of your label?”   
“Security and good art have never been coupled together,” Namjoon replied. “It’s all about getting out of your comfort zone—breaking boundaries. Plus this way I know you would take into account my kids when it comes to my tour dates and commitments. My current label only half-asses it, and there have been many times I’ve had to miss out on things that I didn’t want to because of it.”   
“Of…of course,” Jaebeom stuttered out in reply, still in shock at the turn in conversation. 

He thought Namjoon would just be there for advice and some of the logistics, not willing to take on the major burden that he was willing to. Things were seriously looking up. 

“We of course need to think of a name for our label, need to think of what direction we want to go with in regards to the sound of our artists, and work from there,” Namjoon suggested.   
“Absolutely,” Jaebeom nodded in reply. “I’m going to be with my current company for 3 more weeks until my contract is up and then we can go from there!” 

—

“Mark, go get changed, we have to leave for your DARE class in an hour,” Jinyoung ordered as the boy put the last of the recycling away from their breakfast. 

Mark groaned but did as he was told, turning and walking up the back staircase to his shared room with Jackson. He at times couldn’t believe at 14 years old he was still sharing a room with his brother. The house had four bedrooms, but one of them was used as a guest room. He was told growing up it was so that no brother would get the bragging rights of their own room. He argued that he should get it as the oldest member of the family, but that had fallen on deaf ears. He guessed he was lucky that he wasn’t in the three person shared room that was Youngjae, Bambam and Yugyeom. At least Jackson wasn’t as chaotic as the maknae line. 

Walking into his room he saw Jackson sat on his own bed with Hoseok, and Yoongi sat on Jackson’s desk chair. 

“Hey Jacks, what’s going on?” Mark asked, walking over to his dresser and pulling out some clothes to wear. It was fairly warm out still, so jeans and a t-shirt would do.  
“We are having a debate over Mario Kart vs Donkey Kong,” Jackson replied. “Thoughts?”   
“Mario Kart all the way!” Mark replied, grabbing some socks and boxers out of his bottom drawer. 

Hoseok groaned while Yoongi and Jackson cheered in excitement. He guessed that Hoseok was very much outnumbered with his answer. 

“Where are you off to?” Hoseok asked, noticing Mark was grabbing clothes.   
“I have to attend these dumb DARE meetings,” Mark replied. “The school is requiring them because of the pot. I think appa and dad believe me that it wasn’t really mine and I was just going to toss it, but the whole coming home drunk like a week before that didn’t win me my case.”   
“It’s the only way you are getting out of the house right now, I’d take it,” Jackson teased with a shrug. 

Mark groaned at the reminder and turned to walk to the upstairs hall bathroom to change. 

“What do you think alcohol tastes like?” Hoseok asked after a few moments of silence. 

Yoongi and Jackson both pondered it for a moment. 

“It must taste good that adults drink so much of it,” Yoongi reasoned.   
“But I don’t know why, because Mark looked awful afterwards,” Jackson supplied. “My appa said that he threw up for awhile when he came home that night and then the next day he seemed to have a terrible headache and an upset stomach.”   
“That’s only if you drink too much of it,” Hoseok reasoned.   
“Are you thinking about trying it?” Yoongi asked, eyes widening in concern.   
“My dad apparently has a 35 slide Powerpoint if that’s the case,” Jackson supplied. 

Hoseok laughed and shook his head vigorously. 

“No, no, no,” Hoseok replied. “I was just curious. I’m not stupid enough to do it. My dad would actually kill me.”   
“I would actually kill you for what?” Namjoon asked, walking into the room and seeing the three boys sitting there with wide eyes.   
“Nothing!” Hoseok exclaimed, shaking his head in response. 

Namjoon couldn’t help but chuckle at their reactions. 

“Come on Hoseok-ah,” Namjoon said. “It’s time to go. Yoongi, Jaebeom is down in his studio if you would like a tour of it.” 

Yoongi immediately got up and sprinted off down the steps, shouting a goodbye to Namjoon on his way.

—

“Hey Youngjae, do you want to go pick up Mark with me?” Jaebeom asked a couple hours later. “We have to stop by the market on the way.”

All of their guests had left awhile ago and Bambam and Yugyeom were out playing at the park next door with Jackson—under the careful watch of a couple of their neighbors with kids, of course. Youngjae had said that he wanted to stay home and read a book, so he hadn’t joined them. Jaebeom wanted to give Jinyoung some relaxation time, so he thought this would be a great time to bond with Youngjae 1 on 1. 

“Sure!” Youngjae exclaimed, closing his book and placing it on his bed. 

He followed his dad down the steps and quickly put his shoes on. 

“What are we having for dinner tonight?” Youngjae asked, getting in the backseat of the car since he wasn’t big enough yet to ride in the front seat with his dad.   
“That’s up to us,” Jaebeom answered. “I’m cooking tonight, so is there anything in particular you are craving?”   
“Can we have bibimbap?” Youngjae asked in excitement. “With beef!” 

Jaebeom couldn’t help but chuckle at the boys excitement but nodded his head in agreement. They quickly made their way through the asian market, picking up the ingredients that they would need for dinner that night as well as stocking up on some snacks for the boys. It often looked like they were shopping for an army of people and not just a family of 7. That’s what happens when you have 5 growing boys, though. They never stop eating—although, Jaebeom would admit that he didn’t really stop eating either. 

“DAD!” Youngjae exclaimed once they were outside and putting the bags into the car.   
“What’s wrong?” Jaebeom asked, looking around in confusion making sure the boy wasn’t hurt.   
“Can we go look at it!” Youngjae exclaimed, pointing at the pet store. 

Jaebeom looked down at his watch and saw they still have about 15 minutes until they had to pick up Mark and it wasn’t far. He nodded, closing the trunk of the car before returning his cart and grabbing Youngjae by the hand so they could head into the pet shop. 

— 

“That was the coolest experience ever!” Yoongi exclaimed, for what seemed to be the millionth time that night. “And Uncle Namjoon said that he has a home studio as well that he would show me. This is seriously all of my dreams coming true. Rap Monster giving me a personal tour!” 

Seokjin chuckled, pausing to look over fondly at his eldest son. They were all sat around the table making mandu. It was a tradition that his mother had passed down to him, and he was sure to pass down to his kids. 

“Speaking of Namjoon,” Seokjin said, turning his attention towards Taehyung and Jungkook. “Would either of you like to explain how a bar of my favorite secret stash chocolate ended up on his pillow?” 

Taehyung shifted awkwardly, trying to put on an innocent face—a dead giveaway. 

“You have a secret stash of chocolate?!” Jungkook exclaimed. “Where?!”   
“It wouldn’t be secret if I told you,” Seokjin replied, narrowing in on his suspect. “Although, Taehyung here clearly already knows.”   
“Come on dad, hiding something above the fridge hardly qualifies as making it secret,” Taehyung argued.   
“So do you want to explain why?” Seokjin asked.   
“Jiminie and I thought it would be romantic,” Taehyung said with a shrug. “Jimin says his dad needs all the help he can get.” 

Seokjin had to hide his amusement at that statement. Jimin wasn’t necessarily wrong. Namjoon could be romantic sometimes, as proven the night before, but there were many things in life that Namjoon seemed to need help in. 

“Well as sweet as it was,” Seokjin replied. “It was unnecessary. Namjoon and I can work out our own relationship at our own pace.”   
“He just wants to live with Jimin hyung,” Jungkook said with a pout. “I’m not good enough of a brother.”   
“That’s not true, Kookie,” Taehyung said, ruffling the boys hair and proceeding to get flour in it.   
“HEY!” Jungkook shouted wiping his hair with his own hands and proceeding to make it even worse. 

Seokjin rolled his eyes and let the subject drop for now, getting up to grab a wet paper towel for his youngest.

— 

“How in the world are you going to explain this to appa?” Mark asked, eyes wide in shock as he sat down in the passenger seat of the car.   
“You let me worry about that,” Jaebeom said with a shrug. “She was just too cute…and as you can see Youngjae fell in love with her.”   
“You still think he isn’t your favorite child?” Mark asked, raising an eyebrow in accusation.   
“He is for all five of you kids, not just Youngjae!” Jaebeom argued. “It could have been any one of you that fell in love first.”   
“So what’s her name?” Mark asked, turning around to see Youngjae petting the white fluffy puppy on his lap.   
“Her name is Coco!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah...Jinyoung is going to have a lot to say...


	18. I Want to Switch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is a little rough. I wasn't able to do the multi-time read-through to check for spelling and grammar errors. I will be able to get to that soon, but I didn't want to leave you all waiting. I will just go back and fix any spelling mistakes I see then :)
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy!!

Chapter 18

Jaebeom wanted to break the news of the puppy in a little bit better of a way than it actually came out. Jaebeom, Youngjae and Mark walked into the house carrying the puppy as well as some of the bags from the grocery store. Upon walking through the front door, Coco let out a little bark causing all three remaining children who were sitting in the living room to whip their heads around to look at what had caused the noise. 

“PUPPY!” Yugyeom and Bambam squealed in excitement, while Jackson jumped up and immediately ran over to Youngjae and Coco squealing as well. 

Jaebeom cringed, and felt rather than saw Jinyoung appearing in the hallway. 

“Jaebeom, a word please,” Jinyoung said, immediately turning around and walking back towards the kitchen. 

Jaebeom moved to grab Coco from Youngjae’s arms, thinking maybe the puppy dog eyes would save him. 

“And leave the dog,” Jinyoung ordered without turning around, making it seem as if he had eyes in the back of his head. 

Jaebeom groaned and trudged down the hallway, leaving his kids to meet the new addition to their family. When Jaebeom reached the kitchen he saw that Jinyoung was already sat at the table—his arms crossed over his chest and quite the intimidating glare on his face. 

“Jinyoungie I—“ Jaebeom began, but got cut off.   
“You want to explain to me how you went from going to the grocery store with Youngjae and then heading to picking up Mark, to showing up with a dog?” Jinyoung asked, his voice calm and even—and all the more intimidating because of it.   
“Well you see,” Jaebeom began, sitting down at the table as he spoke—although, picking a seat admittedly as far away from Jinyoung as he could. “Youngjae begged me to stop at the pet store. When we went in she was there and we both couldn’t resist her puppy dog eyes. Youngjae held her and she got so comfortable she was ready to fall asleep. It was a precious moment.”   
“Do you know how much effort it takes to raise a dog?” Jinyoung asked, refusing to be swayed by the adorable image his husband was painting.   
“Way less effort than it takes to raise five kids,” Jaebeom pointed out. “And I would say we are doing alright on that front.” 

Jinyoung huffed and rolled his eyes. 

“Youngjae promised me he would pitch in to take care of Coco,” Jaebeom quickly added on. “And the rest of the kids are going to have to pitch in as well. It will be a great lesson in responsibility for them.”  
“You are literally thinking of these things on the fly aren’t you?” Jinyoung asked.   
“I will never reveal my secrets,” Jaebeom replied. 

Jinyoung laughed at that, causing Jaebeom to relax a little in his seat. 

“I know pretty much all of your secrets, hyung,” Jinyoung said, rolling his eyes once more before getting out of his seat and moving to crouch next to his husband. “Next time you remember to call me and ask before bringing home an animal, okay?”   
“Yes, Nyoungie,” Jaebeom said with the best puppy dog pout he could muster.   
“Not gonna work on me,” Jinyoung said, but proceeded to pull his husband in for a kiss anyway. “Now do you have all the things we need to start off? Water bowl? Leash? Collar? Food? Treats? Toys?”   
“Yes,” Jaebeom replied, getting up off the chair and grabbing hold of Jinyoung’s hand. “We stopped by the pet store after picking up, Mark. Come on, you should come meet Coco.” 

Jinyoung allowed himself to be led into the living room where he found all five of his kids excitedly meeting their new dog. Despite his still slight annoyance at zero warning, Jinyoung felt his heart warm at the site. God, he loved his family so much. 

— 

It was a rainy Wednesday afternoon, and almost the end of the day—just 5 more minutes of the final period. Bambam looked at his finished art piece, very satisfied with his work. He went to go to the sink in the back of the room to clean up his paintbrushes and put his paint set away. The moment he started to hear giggling he should have know that something was up. He continued his cleaning though, `ignoring his—for lack of a better word—annoying classmates. For about the fifteenth time that day he wished he had a close friend in his class, but alas he didn’t and there was not really anything he could do about it. Well other than make a friend, but Michael and Taylor seemed to scare anyone off from wanting to talk to the boy. 

Bambam walked back to his seat and saw that paint was spread all across the table now—all over his freshly finished art piece. He felt the prickling in the back of his eyes and the slight choking up of his throat. He tried to take a deep breath. He was not going to cry. He was not going to give them the satisfaction. 

“Mrs. Smith,” Taylor called out. “We had a bit of an accident.” 

The art teacher rushed over to see the catastrophe that was now the back table of her art room. 

“Oh no! Boys, you need to be a little more careful,” Mrs. Smith said, rushing to get some paper towels to clean up the mess.   
“It was Bambam, he was horsing around,” Michael lied, when she returned. “We told him to stop, but he didn’t listen to us. He ended up ruining his own painting, though, so I guess he learned his lesson.”   
“Be more careful next time, Bambam,” Mrs. Smith scolded. “You are lucky it was only your artwork that got ruined this time.” 

Before Bambam could even protest, the bell rang signaling the end of the day. Mrs. Smith shooed the boys off, telling them she would clean the mess up herself. Bambam grabbed his backpack off the back of the chair and all but sprinted out of the classroom and to the nearest bathroom. He picked the first open stall, locking the door behind him and started to let the tears fall. 

It was a good five minutes before Bambam was able to collect himself enough that he could face the rest of his family, who he knew would be waiting for him outside. He made a quick trip to his locker, and then headed out to the courtyard to see all four of his brothers waiting impatiently for him. 

“Bam! Where have you been?” Mark asked as the boy walked up to them. “We’ve been waiting for you for like ten minutes!”   
“Sorry,” Bambam muttered, looking nowhere but at the ground in front of him. 

Jackson took a moment to take in the pathetic form of his second youngest brother. It took a second for him to notice that the boy had red rimmed eyes. 

“Have you been crying?” Jackson asked, causing all of his brother’s to snap their heads towards him in concern.   
“Of course not,” Bambam replied with a scoff. “I just have bad allergies. Can we go now? Sorry to keep you waiting, I had to talk with someone after class.” 

Jackson looked like he didn’t really want to let it go, but Mark shrugged and gestured for them to all follow him home. If Bambam didn’t want to talk to them, he couldn’t make them. He would just have to tell his dad and his appa that he thought something might be up. 

“Hey Bam, you will never guess what Jungkook and I did today!” Yugyeom said, hoping that his chatter would help clear the air and get his brother in a better mood.   
“If you don’t mind, I would really rather not hear about your awesome day right now, Gyeom,” Bambam said with a sigh and started to speed walk a little more so that he was not walking next to any of his brothers. 

Youngjae saw and heard what happened and put an arm around Yugyeom. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Youngjae comforted. “Maybe he just had a really bad day.”

Yugyeom nodded, but couldn’t help but look very worriedly at his closest sibling. Something was definitely wrong with him. This was even further proven when the boy immediately headed up to his room when they got home, closing the door loudly behind him. 

— 

Yoongi walked into the house, with Jungkook and Taehyung trailing behind him. The moment they walked through the door they could smell the delicious dinner that Seokjin was preparing. He had food cooking in the crockpot all day long, and the aroma had truly taken over the house. When they walked into the kitchen they saw that their dad was actually sat at the counter on the phone with someone. 

“He actually just walked in if you would like to ask him,” Seokjin said, much to the confusion of his three children. 

Seokjin then proceeded to hand his cell phone to Yoongi. 

“It’s Namjoon,” Seokjin explained.   
“Hey Uncle Namjoon, what’s up?” Yoongi asked into the phone.   
“Hi Yoongi,” Namjoon greeted. “So I wanted to ask if you were interested in helping Jaebeom hyung and myself out. We decided that we are going to open our own label together. We actually found a location of a studio that we have purchased, but it is in need of some major work. Would you be interested in working with us to get it in top shape? You would certainly be paid for your labor, and we would both be willing to teach you about music production and show you how all of the equipment works.” 

Seokjin didn’t know if he had ever heard his eldest son squeal before, but that was the best way to describe the noise that next came out of his mouth. 

“That would seriously be an absolute dream come true!” Yoongi gushed into the telephone. “Whenever you need me, I will be there!”   
“Thank you so much, Yoongi!” Namjoon replied, a big smile on his face caused from the clear pure excitement of the 8th grader. “We move into the studio next Wednesday, and will start cleaning up then.”   
“I will be ready right after school!” Yoongi exclaimed.   
“I will pick you up then,” Namjoon replied. “Now, I’m sure you have some homework and snacking to get to, so can I talk to your dad again?” 

Yoongi handed the phone over to his dad, and then proceeded to grab a snack off the counter and run up to his room so that he could call and talk with Jackson and Hoseok. They had to know just how excited he was too! 

“Yeah, my dad asked me about helping out with that as well,” Hoseok said on the video call. “But I have dance practice most nights of the week now.”   
“That’s so cool, though,” Jackson added in. “I can’t believe my dad is actually opening up a label with Rap Monster!”   
“You seriously underestimate Def.Soul,” Yoongi added on. “I have looked into your father, so many of the songs that he has written and produced are incredible. Have you heard his work with OFFSHORE? Like your dad’s got so much talent it’s unbelievable. He’s such an amazing singer, too.”   
“Uh oh, Jackson,” Hoseok couldn’t help but jest. “Yoongi hyung is going to have a crush your dad now too.”   
“Ha ha, very funny,” Yoongi said, sticking his tongue out at his two friends.   
“He would appreciate that,” Jackson added on. “Since he is mostly behind the scenes most people don’t have a clue what he looks like.” 

The three of them spent about 30 more minutes on video chat, even though they absolutely could have saved this conversation for tomorrow at school, until they got told it was time for them to do their homework. 

— 

Mark had been in charge of making dinner, since neither of his dads were going to be home in time for dinner that night. Jaebeom had a last minute recording session he had to take part in and Jinyoung had a meeting with the PTA of the school. It was essential that he be there, since he was a new teacher. Therefore, Mark was in charge of his four brothers for the evening. 

Bambam had proven moody for the rest of the evening. He came down for the Mac & Cheese and dinosaur chicken nuggets that Mark made—a true chef, if you asked him— but he hardly spoke during dinner and had immediately retreated back to his bedroom. Yugyeom was growing more and more upset by the fact that his brother wasn’t speaking to him. 

Mark was doing the best that he could, with a little bit of help from Jackson. He made sure they all did their homework—even Bambam, who Mark insisted show him physical proof that he had done it. He fed them. He got all of them to shower and put on their pajamas. By 9 o’clock Mark was exhausted. He didn’t know how his dads did it with five kids. Not only was Mark exhausted, he was very much trying not to give into temptation. He was three weeks into his grounding. Although, technically that just meant that he finished his three-week grounding for lying and getting drunk with his friends. Now he was onto his grounding for everything else he did. He was going stir-crazy. He hadn’t played a video game in three weeks. He knew how pathetic that sounded, but it was driving him crazy. He just wanted to play one. For at least five minutes. That was all he asked. 

He got a message to his phone that his appa was on his way home and he would be about 20 minutes. He hadn’t heard anything from his dad, but his dad would sometimes have to work until 1 and 2 in the morning, so it was very likely that the man wouldn’t be home anytime soon. Sensing that he had about 20 minutes to spare—all of his brothers were tucked into their beds and either reading or in some cases, already sound asleep, Mark picked up Jackson’s Nintendo Switch from where the boy had left it sitting on the coffee table in the family room. Jackson was the last one to shower, and had just hopped in, so Mark figured he would have about 15 minutes to himself in their shared room. 

It was so easy to get lost in a video game, time seeming to virtually go out the window while he was playing. He should have been more careful. He didn’t know how he didn’t hear the garage door. Or the footsteps on the stairs.

“Mark Yi En, last I checked you were banned from video games,” the stern voice of his father pulled him out of his focus—his shock causing him to hit a button and making his character die. 

Mark groaned and put the switch down on the bed in front of him. 

“Hey dad, when did you get home?” Jackson asked, walking into the room and towel drying his hair.   
“Just a few moments ago,” Jaebeom answered. “Did you give Mark your Nintendo Swivel thing to play on?”   
“First of all, it’s a Switch,” Jackson replied with a laugh. “And no, I’m not that stupid.” 

Jackson looked over and saw Mark with a guilty face and spotted the game console in front of his brother. 

“I took it off the coffee table where he left it,” Mark admitted with a sigh. “I’m sorry.”   
“Go sit at the kitchen table and wait for your appa to get home,” Jaebeom ordered. “I’m going to check on all your brothers before coming down to join you.” 

Mark nodded and did as he was told, knowing arguing was futile. When they could hear the footsteps of Mark going down the steps, Jaebeom turned to Jackson. 

“How was your day?” Jaebeom asked, taking a seat on Mark’s now abandoned bed.   
“It was good,” Jackson replied, hanging his towel on the hook on the wall to dry. “I got my math test back and aced it, and I got placed with Hoseok for a project in Spanish.”   
“That’s great, Sunnie,” Jaebeom replied, happy to see his son happy.   
“You might want to talk to Bambam, though,” Jackson added on. “I’m not really sure what’s going on there, but he has been in a mood all afternoon. He hardly would even speak with Gyeomie, who now looks like a lost puppy.” 

Jaebeom nodded, added that to his mental list of things that he had to do. 

“And dad,” Jackson continued, causing Jaebeom to turn his head towards his son. “I know it’s really not my place, but could you possibly not be so hard on Mark hyung about this? He did a really great job today, taking care of all of us and a dog, especially with Bambam being so moody. He deserves a break.”   
“I’ll take that into advisement,” Jaebeom promised. 

Jaebeom checked in with all of his sons, most of who were by now sleeping, kissing them all on the forehead goodnight and checking that they were comfortable in bed. He then headed downstairs to see that Mark was already sat at the table chatting with Jinyoung. 

“I know I wasn’t supposed to play the video game,” Mark said, clearly in the middle of a conversation with Jinyoung. “But I’ve been going absolutely insane. All I do is sit in ISS all day doing school work, then I come home and do chores and homework and either read a book or honestly stare blankly at a wall in boredom before going to bed. I don’t go anywhere other than school, home and the stupid DARE meetings. I know it’s my punishment, and it’s not meant to be fun but having no TV, no computer except for school work, and not having my phone 95% of the time is a big adjustment. I caved.” 

Jaebeom pondered his son’s words as he sat down at the table with them. 

“I completely understand where you are coming from,” Jinyoung said, placing his hand on top of Mark’s and giving it a squeeze. “Perhaps we are being a little too harsh on banning those things completely for three months.” 

Jaebeom nodded in agreement. 

“You’ve been really good these past two weeks, limited complaining, doing all your chores to our satisfaction,” Jaebeom added on. “Perhaps we could reward you with either computer usage for a little bit or video game usage for good behavior.” 

Mark looked hopefully at both of his dads. 

“How about an hour a week, you get to choose what you want to do?” Jinyoung suggested.   
“We can revisit the amount of time as we get further into your grounding,” Jaebeom added.   
“That would be amazing! Thank you!” Mark replied, leaning over and hugging first his dad and then his appa.   
“Seokjin hyung was telling me that you guys are having Yoongi help you with the set up of your studio,” Jinyoung added. “Is that perhaps something Mark could help with as well?”   
Jaebeom’s eyes lit up at the idea and he turned towards his eldest, immediately explaining the situation. 

— 

The next night, the Im/Park family was all sat around the table in the kitchen eating together this time. Jinyoung had an important topic that he had to bring up with their kids. 

“So I know you all know that I have started a new position at a private school,” Jinyoung began. “I’m sure you are aware that Mark will be transferring to the school this Monday, after completing his ISS. We would like to extend the offer for any of you that wish to change schools as well. It is a really great private school and offers lots of extra curricular activities, but obviously we wouldn’t want to take you away from your friends. I just want you to know the option was there.” 

There was silence at the table, most of the kids busy chewing their food. Yugyeom shook his head, having no interest in leaving his class with Jungkook. Jackson also shook his head, not wanting to leave his dance team or Hoseok and Yoongi. Youngjae shook his head, he really liked his class and that he could see Jimin and Taehyung at recess.

“I want to change schools,” Bambam said, breaking the silence and causing every member of his family to look at him in confusion—none more so than Yugyeom, who looked betrayed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn. I really feel bad hurting poor Bamie. Those guys in his class are terrible.


End file.
